14 DAY TRIAL // End-users may know of E Ink and its large role in the continued existence of e-book readers, along with other devices that employ electronic paper displays, but it seems that those wishing for a new display will have to make do without.
Even though there are such things as color e-readers (the possibility of seeing them as full-fledged tablets notwithstanding), most still use greyscale displays.
This is because e-paper is cheaper and much more power-efficient than LCDs, even though it does lack color support.
At the moment, the best E Ink e-paper screen is known as the Pearl and contributed much to the revenue record that the company scored in the fourth quarter of 2010.
With all the improvements to brightness and resolution that Pearl brought, consumers are now hooping for even better performance.
Unfortunately, those that expected E Ink to come out and provide a next-generation screen this year will have to settle for waiting a while longer.
While E Ink does plan to deliver a much better display than what is available right now, it won't happen before the end of 2011.
In fact, there is nothing saying that 2012 will see the rise of new e-paper either, although assumptions, hopes and speculations do seem to suggest it would.
It was E Ink's global sales head Sri Peruvemba that outlined the situation, implying that the next generation might support video, either full motion or at 24 FPS (frames per second).
However, color support will still be lacking, although this might be a smaller issue than some might think, seeing as how Amazon, whose Kindle leads the e-reader market, doesn't plan on making a color model for a few years still.
Either way, Barnes & Noble also have the regular Nook, non-color, and Kobo should also be eager to adopt a new E Ink display, whenever it happens to be ready.