E-readers such as the Kindle and Sony Reader were seen as the future a few years ago, but soon multifunctional and cheap tablets took their place. This caused serious market share drops for the device makers and also to the manufacturers of components and screens, with E Ink Holdings on top.
The display manufacturer recently reported its quarterly earnings and it appears that sales are down… a lot. They’re actually down 46% year over year with a net loss of $33.6 million. This isn’t the first net loss that the company got, but it’s the biggest in four years. It’s also important to mention that the firm announced during its latest conference call that it expects e-reader sales to be somewhere in the range of 10 to 15 million this year.
Right now, e-paper stands for 70% of the E Ink revenue, with their panels going into e-readers and such. The appeal of such components is the fact that they use less power and they’re easier on the eyes. The problems? Slow refresh rate and black and white display, making them available on limited devices. Ereader companies are updating their products now for Q4, which may be a reason for the net loss, but are the holidays enough to make back that money?
