E Ink’s technology provides a convincing argument for the validity of electronic paper (or e-paper). The technology has been described as relatively simple. Each display consists of millions of tiny microcapsules that each contain positively charged white capsules and negatively charged black capsules. When a negative electric filed is applied, the white capsules move to the top where they can be seen by the viewer.

To form an E Ink electronic display, the ink is printed onto a sheet of plastic film laminated to a layer of circuitry which forms patterns of pixels that are controlled by a display driver. These microcapsules are suspended in what is known as a liquid “carrier medium” that allow them to be printed via existing screen printing processes onto any surface, like glass, plastic, fabric, and paper.

Key development in the success of technology has been the decrease of costs of some of the material used in production of e-paper and this drives down the cost of the product. E-paper is also eco-friendly in that it removes the need to print documents, recycle newspaper and magazines. The biggest growth market in 2007 was electronic shelf labels in supermarkets. A typical department store has between 20,000 and 40,000 labels and retailers want control over them.

However, no United Kingdom outlets sell the Sony Reader, a much ballyhooed e-book reader. For e-paper to thrive it needs to be embraced by the domestic market.

Recent technological advances in nanotechnology have made electronic paper – or e-paper – a reality. E-paper technology originated in the 1970s at Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in the United States. However, it was never fully developed and relegated to obscurity until 1997 when Joseph Jacobson co-founded the E Ink Corporation hoping to develop and market the technology. Since its inception, several technologies associated with e-paper have failed to make any kind of long-lasting impact or been as affordable as printer paper products. For example, in 2004, Sony launched the LIBRIe only to replace in early 2006 with the Reader.

Despite innovations with e-paper, it has failed to challenge the stranglehold on the market of the printer word. Paper books offer a tactile experience that customers still want and which e-book readers cannot deliver. However, e-paper has a paper-like thin appearance, very low power consumption, a light form, and the ability to display updatable information while print remains static. Cambridge-based Plastic Logic uses E Ink technology and has attracted more than 50 million pounds in venture capital funding to build a plant in Dresden, Germany in order to manufacture electronic reader products with an estimate of four million units by 2010.