The commercial success of the Amazon Kindle and the lesser yet still quite substantial uptake of e-book readers such as the iRex iLIad or the SONY PRS family have sparked up a large interest in electronic paper technologies.
Electronic paper is a display technology designed to mimic the appearance of ordinary ink on paper. Unlike conventional flat panel displays, it doesn't require a backlight to illuminate its pixels as it reflects light like paper does and can hold text and images indefinitely without drawing power.

Out of the technologies that could be suitable for electronic paper applications, electrophoretic displays are seeing the strongest growth. Although currently not available in full colour (but available in grayscale), electrophoretic displays found the perfect application in the development of e-book readers as, books are also black and white. Other technologies are also being used in the development of e-book readers and are covered in this report, like the FUJITSU color reader that utilizes cholesteric LCD technology by KENT displays.

Electrochromic or electrowetting displays, although not yet utilized are possible candidates for applications that will be commercialized in the near future. Several other products that are either already available or in the process of becoming available are using technologies such as those by TRED or Nemoptic. The companies that develop them are playing on the strengths of these technologies and hence focus on different applications. These would range from small size such as smart card displays and point of purchase labels to larger size ones such as billboards, posters and signage, train station displays etc.

How much more will the eBook reader market grow? When will eBook readers be available in full colour and when will the flexible versions reach the market? Which technologies will gain the biggest market share and which products will become popular with consumers in the next few years? Find out all about the projected market growth and overall penetration of electronic paper technologies in this new report.