Two interesting pieces of news this morning -
- EInk Corporation has agreed to be bought by Prime View International of Taiwan for $215 million. Xconomy Boston has details including the fact that, given it had taken over $150 million of investments, its not much of a payoff. EInk will hold a press conference at the SID trade show in a few days. More details on the companies in the Press Release about the acquisition.
“Combining E Ink and PVI creates a single public company that is dedicated to electronic paper,” said Russell J. Wilcox, co-founder, President and CEO of E Ink Corp.
- Advertising Age has the scoop on Showtime offering Kindle users a free download of the pilot script of their new series “Nurse Jackie”.
Working with its media shop, Omnicom Group’s OMD, Showtime will use banner ads throughout Amazon.com and on the Kindle storefront to promote the free download, which will be available until Aug. 31.
My first thoughts on hearing Kindle and advertising in one sentence were not happy ones. This however, seems pretty reasonable – advertise your show by offering the script as a free download. It seems that Showtime keeps trying new, innovative ways of reaching customers and increasing the audience for its shows -
The idea of using Kindle, a text-based electronic reader, to promote a TV show may seem odd, but it falls directly in line with Showtime’s typical modus operandi when it comes to hyping a new series, said Stuart Zakim, VP-corporate public relations at Showtime.
As far as the EInk acquisition -
Now that PVI has bought EInk the whole confusion around who does what is gone. Apparently EInk had the know-how behind the Kindle and Sony Reader’s eInk screens, and PVI used EInk technology to manufacture the actual screens for Kindle and Sony Reader. The acquisition simplifies things.
Wonder if the advent of Plastic Logic and Pixel Qi made EInk think that its prospects were not as bright and cashing out for a small profit now was the smart thing to do. It’ll be interesting to see what PVI does to stay relevant in the epaper space.
Filed under: news Tagged: | eInk, kindle news
