The market for e-book readers started to grow exponentially at the end of 2010. Amazon is currently in its fifth generation of the Kindle, Barnes & Noble has the Nook and Nook Color, Sony has a cadre of its own products, and the Apple iPad, though more of a tablet computer and not strictly an e-book reader, has helped spur the popularity of the devices the most. Most e-book readers have the advantage of being extremely lightweight and the ability to use up limited battery life. That bare-bones approach to electronic book reading almost always means black-and-white text, though.
Aside from the iPad and Nook Color, which use LCD screens, the most striking aspect of e-book readers is their use of E Ink. E Ink is the technology that makes electronic books look real. It gives the pages on the screen the authentic look of ink without actually using ink, and it has the added ability of being visible in direct sunlight.
A Chinese company has recently taken the technology of E Ink and added the element of color. The product is called the Hanvon color e-reader, and it’s much like any other e-book reader except for its use of color E Ink. The leading e-book reader companies are hesitant to embrace the use of color E Ink because although it’s an added bonus, E Ink in general is much more muted than the display of LCD screens. Companies such as Sony and Amazon see a market for color e-readers, but more for the children’s book market. Until these companies are sure that color E Ink is a technology America wants, they aren’t going to hurry to change anything.