E Ink is based in Taiwan and they currently generate 20% of their global revenue in the Chinese market. The primary source of income is derived from e-paper displays such as electronic shelf labels, but also exclusive smartphones that are only available in the Chinese market. These include the Hisense A2, Huateng Flag D1, Siswoo R9 Darkmoon and many white label variants. E Ink wants to increase Chinese revenue by an additional 10% by 2020 and is opening a global research center in Yangzhou where they will continue to develop practical uses for ACeP and figure out how they are going to compete in the the Internet of Things market.
“Intelligence and environmental protection have become long-term demands for China during its economy transformation and development,” Frank Ko, chairman and CEO of E Ink said during the Mobile World Congress Shanghai. Frank Ko, chairman and CEO of E Ink, said during the Mobile World Congress Shanghai. “This offers unique opportunities for E Ink.”
In their booth of MWCS, E Ink showcases IoT applications including display boards for retail outlets, tags in hospitals, screens at bus stops and smart devices for classrooms which are designed to protect students’ eyesight.
Last month E ink spent $30 million dollars to acquire SES-imagotag to strengthen their collaborative efforts to expand and accelerate the retail IoT market. The two companies have done a few things in the past, primarily leveraging E Ink Spectra technology, which include red and yellow colors into the traditionally black and white electronic retail tags.
China is going to “dominate” industrial IoT markets as it will have 13.8 billion IoT connections by 2025, one-third of the global level, said researcher GSMA.
E Ink is not forgetting about the e-Reader market, which represents 70% of their revenue. They are working on new e-readers for Amazon and Onyx. They also are doing a co-venture with Sony with a new initiative is called Linfiny and the two sides will leverage the R&D capability at Sony Semiconductor Solutions and backend module production capacity at EIH to develop e-paper products and solutions to enable clients to shorten time-to-market for new e-paper products. This will hopefully make it easier for new companies to enter the market and develop new and interesting products such as the Intel Tiger Rapid.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
