Hitachi to Sell Unrollable E-Paper in 2006

Hitachi headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and one of the leading global electronics company with approximately 326,000 employees worldwide. The company offers a wide range of systems, products and services in market sectors, including information systems, electronic devices, power and industrial systems, consumer products, materials and financial services. Hitachi, Ltd. has 956 subsidiaries, including 411 overseas companies.

And with the vision to push further ahead their leadership, they are planning to begin selling a color-capable electronic paper in 2006.

The article describes this electronic paper as, “Rather than use organic light-emitting (OLED) diodes, the way that Philips' e-paper does, Hitachi's device will use a liquid crystal displays (LCD) 3-centimeters thick and equipped with a special panel that has doubles the normal light reflectivity of LCDs. Hitachi showed a 7-inch prototype, said the device is capable of showing an image bright enough for easy viewing without using a backlight, and can display a high-resolution image for several months on commercially available lithium ion battery cells. Unlike Philips e-paper, the Hitachi device can't display video.”

This electronic paper can neither be rolled up nor bent. The article carry on the idea that this Hitachi electronic paper will be used in shopping malls and trains for posters and ads, as well as at public facilities, offices and homes for information and message boards as its main market. Those are also the markets that currently use E -Ink's black & white, lower resolution electronic paper. This is a great improvement for on the part of the company as well as its covered market.