E Ink Demonstrates High Resolution With World's First Active Matrix Electronic Ink Display; Breakthrough Marks Next Step Toward Paper-Like Electronic Displays

Business Wire, April 10, 2001

Business/Technology Editors

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CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 10, 2001

E Ink Corporation, the leading developer and marketer of electronic ink technology, today announced that it has demonstrated the world's first active matrix electronic ink display capable of producing high resolution illustrations and text. This innovative research and development milestone for electronic ink is a step toward a new generation of highly mobile devices such as cellular phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and reader devices with screens as easy to read as ink on paper.

The display prototype is 12.1 inches diagonally with the resolution of a typical laptop computer monitor and is capable of creating high quality images, including illustrations. To make the electronic ink easily compatible with the necessary electronics, E Ink scientists developed a new version of electronic ink that changes ten times faster than the previous version. Contrast was also improved by switching the ink from blue to deep black.

"By demonstrating high resolution electronic ink for the first time, we have proven that E Ink is ready to work with the world's leading display companies to develop the next-generation in electronic device displays," said Jim Iuliano, president and CEO of E Ink. "This advance also brings us one step closer to paper-like electronic displays that preserve many of the same qualities we enjoy in books and newspapers today."

IBM Research provided some of the electronics used in their laptop displays to E Ink for the research prototype. Starting with the active matrix from IBM, E Ink engineers added the electronic ink and modified the circuitry to complete a working device. IBM and E Ink will jointly deliver a paper describing the display prototype at the Society for Information Display Conference in San Jose, California in June 2001.

This new display provides three main benefits over traditional and emerging display technologies such as liquid crystal displays (LCDs), cathode ray tubes (CRTs), light emitting displays (LEDs) and organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs):

Readability--Because electronic ink contains the same coloring agents as ink on paper, the display demonstrated by E Ink is three to six times brighter than reflective liquid crystal displays (LCDs), exceeds newspapers in contrast ratio and is easily read in both dim light and full sunlight. Like paper, the E Ink display has a clear image that can be seen at any angle without a change in contrast. In addition, special properties of the ink enable smoother text characters than many displays used today.

Portability--Electronic ink allows a fixed image to remain on the screen even after the power source is shut off, leading to dramatically longer battery life. The bright paper-white background of electronic ink also eliminates the need for a backlight in most applications. For example, E Ink's display draws less than 1/1000th the power required by a standard notebook computer screen when used for normal reading. Portable devices incorporating E Ink displays could have far smaller batteries making them less expensive and more portable.

Ergonomics--Electronic ink displays are 30 percent thinner and lighter than traditional LCD displays. Because electronic ink displays read like ink on paper, they should cause less eyestrain than most other displays that typically emit or transmit light.

"This latest demonstration of E Ink technology represents a significant advancement in the development of high resolution electronic ink displays," said Dr. Michael McCreary, vice president of research and development at E Ink. "Over the past year, we have significantly improved the quality of electronic ink, reduced its power requirements and increased its speed. These changes have made our electronic ink displays readily compatible with a wide variety of today's most widely used electronic devices ranging from PC tablets to cellular phones to PDAs."

About E Ink

E Ink Corporation, headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was founded in 1997 to commercialize the use of a proprietary electronic ink that will have a far-reaching impact on how the world visually communicates information. E Ink's technology has the potential to span virtually every industry and create new communications vehicles. E Ink is a private corporation that includes among its investors and strategic partners Philips Electronics (AEX: PHI, NYSE: PHG), Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT), Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU), Creavis GmbH (NYSE: VEB), The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE: IPG), Havas (a division of the Vivendi Group in France), The Hearst Corporation, Atlas Venture, Applied Technology and Solstice Capital.

E Ink has won several prestigious awards for its electronic ink technology including being named one of Upside's Hot 100 Private Companies, Industry Week's "Technology of the Year," Popular Science's "Best of What's New" and a Technologic Partners' Technology Outlook "Investor's Choice." For additional information, call 617-499-6000 or visit E Ink's Web site at www.eink.com.