Headline PH: Taiwan firms display e-readers at computer show

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Taiwanese electronics firms displayed a slew of e-readers at an industry show Tuesday, with one maker unveiling a lightweight model that can display a full magazine page in color.

The color model — developed by Delta Electronics Inc. and expected to go on sale by December — stood out among a number of monochrome e-readers at the Computex Show in Taiwan.

Named e-Magazine, the model uses particle-based technologies that Delta has developed in collaboration with Japan's Bridgestone Corp., in contrast with ink-based technologies available in the market.

The 13-inch display would allow users to read a magazine page by page without scrolling it up and down like the smaller sized e-readers on the market, said Delta executive Hui Lee.

E-Magazine — about half the weight of Apple Inc.'s iPad — is made especially for professionals to read magazines or documents with color charts, Lee said.

Apple's iPad and some e-readers sport LCD displays, which can show color. But those are harder to see in sunlight, cause eye-fatigue and consume much more power than the e-paper displays used in other e-readers.

While Delta's new technology is yet to be tested by the market, most other e-readers displayed at the industry show use ink-based displays.

Taiwan, a leading player in the digital book market, also supplies monochrome displays for Amazon's Kindle and Sony's e-Readers.

A leading supplier of the e-paper displays is Prime View International Co., a Taiwanese firm that obtained the cutting-edge electronic ink technologies by acquiring Cambridge, Mass.-based E-Ink.

By ANNIE HUANG,
Associated Press Writer

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