Amazon not planning colour eReader

Posted on 27 May 2010 at 11:06

Although colour eReaders are getting a lot of interest in the marketplace, Amazon - one of the pioneers of the eReader device - will not be joining the fray, according to chief executive Jeff Bezos.

According to a report over on Yahoo! News, Bezos used the company's annual shareholder meeting to warn investors that a colour eReader device isn't on the company's short-term to-do list - stating categorically that such devices are "still not ready for prime-time production."

The news that Amazon is sticking with the greyscale electrophoretic displays - also known as e-paper - used in its existing Kindle, Kindle DX, and Kindle 2 eReaders will come as a disappointment to those hoping for the company to branch out into the electronic magazine business - but music to the ears of its competitors.

Various companies are looking to take a share of the eReader market with colour devices including the recently announced Pandigital Novel, which bypasses Bezos' issue of the experimental nature of colour electrophoretic displays by using a traditional backlit LCD panel instead, and Sony's planned colour eReader which will use a more battery-friendly colour e-paper display.

While Bezos is quick to dismiss colour e-paper displays as "still a long way out," the rapid improvement of such displays - including Fujitsu's product - suggests that Amazon's competitors might know something Bezos doesn't.

Author: Gareth Halfacree

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