BPN 1228 While waiting for the new from iRex

Today iRex Technologies, the manufacturer of the e-reader iLiad is said to unveil its first 10,2 -inch e-book reader for the business market tomorrow. The iRex site says that iRex Technologies will unveil a new thing. So I will be checking the site continuously today. But the magazine Forbes was able to unveil some details already, even with a picture of the e-reader (see photograph). The basic message is, according to Forbes, that iRex Technologies will release a large size reader with a screen, which measures diagonally 10,2 inch. It looks like Rex Technologies is going to shift gears in battery life, software and addressing target groups.

From the small Sony PRS 500 to the iLiad, it was already a step forward. But the move from the iLiad to the 10,2 inch screen of the iRex Reader 1000 is a giant step. Especially for the business sector this will be interesting as most documents are still A4 or legal size. Whether the Reader 1000 will be more interesting for newspapers will depend on the price; the first rumblings are that iRex Technologies will again be on top of the price list.

It looks like iRex Technologies is the only one in that field, if the announcement is correct and concerns the Reader 1000. But just a week ago Plastic Logic was also in the news showing a large e-reader with the size of 8.5 x 11-inch, diagonally measuring up to 10,2 inch. Plastic Logic will start selling the product commercially at the beginning of next year. If all the rumours around the iRex Reader 1000 are true, iRex Technologies will start selling immediately in the USA.

So, we are witnessing a new step ahead in size of the screen. It will also be an incremental step in battery life and software. But I will wait to see the specs. But I can hear the critics already saying that it is not a step ahead as the screen is still using 16 grey tones and not colour, while also video is still missing. I am not impressed by that type of comments as colour will come around by 2009, as indicated by Russ Wilcox, the chief executive of E-Ink. Video is said to be on the horizon by 2012. So far digital paper has proven to be unruly for web processing and certainly for video; a few years might be needed to get around the problems involved. Yet a large screen will already be a step ahead; the next logical step would not be web browser functionality and video, but flexible digital paper.

Blog Posting Number: 1228

Tags: digital paper, e-reader, e-book