The e-paper industry is suffering from an e-paper shortage. E INK is the largest company in this space, and its screen technology powers popular e-readers such as the Kindle, Kobo and Nook. Due to large orders from these companies for upcoming new products, there aren’t enough e-paper screens for the smaller and mid-size companies. This is why many e-readers are out of stock or whose release date on pre-orders has been pushed back for three or four months.
Onyx Boox currently needs more of their flagship Boox Tab X, their 13.3-inch e-note, which is among the most powerful in the world. Meebook, a smaller brand based in China, is out of stock on every model. The Readmoo Mooink 2C, their upcoming Kaleido 3 e-reader, was supposed to come out in April but will be released for another three months in the Taiwan market. The Mobiscribe, a USA-based company with their Wave e-reader and e-note, with an upgraded Kaleido 3 screen, is delayed until the summer. Based in Paris, France, Bookeen is entirely out of stock on the Note and is facing severe liquidity problems. Calgary-based Quirklogic has been out of stock on their Papyr e-note and Quilla whiteboard for over five months, their website is now down, and the office building has a for lease sign. Fujitsu is pushing back the release date from Spring to Summer of 2023 for their 3rd generation Quaderno series with Gallery 3 and Kaleido 3 e-paper screens. Sharp is also pushing back it’s Gallery 3 e-note from spring to Fall. Although Remarkable has a substantial stockpile of tablets for sale, they were immediately sold out of their Folio with the keyboard.
When the big players in the industry want to order tens of thousands of new e-readers, e-notes, and accessories, E INK has to meet this demand. They are their bread-and-butter customers, who E INK relies on to drive revenue for their business. Unfortunately, when this occurs, the smaller companies are the ones that need more products; if they can’t, they are basically at a standstill. This can seriously hamper a business that only has 1-3 products in its portfolio, and if it can sell something for three or four months. If the issue persists for much longer, we may see even more companies going bankrupt. Luckily, some companies like Readmoo sell digital content and run bookstores, so they generate meaningful revenue. Still, almost everyone else makes money selling hardware and does not sell digital content, like audiobooks or ebooks.
E INK has to keep Amazon happy. They have to constantly devote a large portion of the screens they manufacture so Kindles are never out of stock. When they sometimes are out of stock, even for a few weeks, it gets national headlines. When was the last time you saw any of the modern Kobo e-readers out of stock? Kobo sells e-readers and e-notes all over the world. Nook e-readers are almost always in stock, the only reason why sometimes they aren’t, is when they have a new model coming out in the near future.
E INK plans to open more manufacturing lines at their existing factories in China, Taiwan and the United States. They have been hiring engineers to run the lines in the past few months. It remains to be seen how soon they can be brought online; I heard from one source that late summer is the timeline.
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.
