Nice post by Telegraph.co.uk news editor, Shane Redmond, on how the UK based company, Plastic Logic, has just received financing to build a large scale factory for the production of flexible electronic paper parts – or ‘e-paper’ as it’s probably more commonly known. The company is set to be in production by as early as 2008. “What’s this got to do with anything?” I hear you ask. Well, put it this way, if Shane is right newspapers might be set for a revival.
Imagine if you could hold an lightweight A4 flexible peace of material which could contain all of the day’s newspaper content. Something with enough memory to contain not only the day’s newspapers but a load of your favourite magazines, a couple of novels and a dictionary for good measure too… all in one small place. It would be like the newspaper had just been ipodded.
I think this is the closest technology to good old paper. And let’s be honest, people much prefer reading from dead trees as opposed to a computer screen. I know I do. My focus levels seem to drop when reading online, particularly if the piece is heavy. Plus there’s too many distractions on a computer; too many things are whizzing around and popping up in the corner. You see the email icon… you know you’re gonna read it, you can’t help it. Plus, I’ve never seen anyone reading a laptop 8.30am on the Northern Line. (Northern Line? Oh no, I’m becoming Londonised!)
That said, it will be interesting to see if newspapers make their content available for such devices. What would the business model be? Would I pay a monthly fee and expect to see ads? Or would I pay a more expensive fee without the ads? Could I chop and choose content from paper to paper? I.e. The media section from the Guardian, entertainment from the Sun, Sport from the Star, business from the Telegraph. And how would I sync fresh content to it? Similar to the iPod? If that’s the case then the last thing I want to be doing at 7.30 on a week day morning is turning a computer on to add the day’s news to my epaper. 
Shane mentions that new content could be added via a mobile phone which isn’t too bad I suppose.
It’ll be interesting to see how it develops.
technorati tags: epaper, plastic+logic, shane+redmond, the+telegraph
Stephen is a communications consultant based out of the UK. You can connect with him on Twitter or check out his LinkedIn profile. | Email Stephen
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Charlotte
I love the idea of e-paper, as well as being environmentally friendly, it eventually could be easier to read than ‘a big ol’ paper’.
Perhaps you could touch in, with your e-paper, a bit like oyster and it would auto-update your preferences. Or stations could get wi-fi enabled so you could download on the go! Either way, it is an exciting prospect.
sam wilcox
Becoming ‘Londonised’? No…come back from the dark side!! I too can feel the effects of being down south (in Cheltenham) for a fortnight, less drinking for one thing!
Anyway back to the point..The e-paper sounds a really good idea, especially if there was a way of checking blogs at the same time!
Matthew
I would love to see text books go to this medium. As one who carries a backpack weekdays on a university campus with a laptop, this would lighten the load on both me and the trees.