It’s difficult to be positive when after 1 year of a dance of Vera of the Seven Veils Pixel Qi only have a DIY kit to offer and even that doesn’t have a release date.

Mary Lou Jepsen has an update at the Pixel Qi Blog talking about Do It Yourself Pixel Qi Kits that will be available towards the end of Q2, 2010.

There’s also some story about 5 year old girls in Nigeria replacing laptop screens which makes me feel terrible about my inability to figure out my old Asus laptop’s screen problems .

The point of the story is that changing a laptop screen is not difficult -

It’s only slightly more difficult than changing a lightbulb:

it’s basically 6 screws, pulling off a bezel, unconnecting the old screen and plugging this one in. That’s it. It’s a 5 minute operation.

It seems that Pixel Qi want people to get over their fear of meddling with their laptop’s innards and try out the new Pixel Qi screens. 

Would you try out Pixel Qi’s DIY kit?

There are some obvious downsides – You might mess up your laptop, you definitely void the warranty, and we don’t know what the price of the Pixel Qi kit is.

However, there’s a big upside - You get a really cool multiple mode screen that turns your laptop/netbook into an eReader-Netbook hybrid.

Would you risk your warranty and your netbook/laptop to try out a Pixel Qi screen?

Personally, taking a $300 Asus netbook and modding it seems a fun thing to do.

Pixel Qi is taking the completely wrong approach

The right way to do it is to have someone like Dell offer Pixel Qi screens as an upgrade and to have Acer and Asus sell netbooks built using Pixel Qi screens and optimized for them.

With the current do it yourself model there are some big stumbling blocks -

1. You void the warranty.
2. You risk your netbook/laptop. There’s no guarantee it works after the screen replacement.
3. You’re paying for a LCD screen you won’t use. 
4. You have to do it all yourself.
5. It’s not easy or convenient. 
6. The power system and the netbook itself haven’t been optimized for Pixel Qi screens.
7. There isn’t any reading specific software on the netbook and definitely not anything aimed at the Pixel Qi screen.

Perhaps Pixel Qi are really interested in seeing what modders can do. Perhaps they haven’t been able to strike enough good parternships. Whatever the reason for their DIY approach it’s not scalable and it’s definitely not how to kick off a product launch.

Do Pixel Qi really want the first Pixel Qi capable devices to be hacked together netbooks that aren’t optimized for the screen or for reading?

When people compare the Kindle and the iPad against Pixel Qi capable devices the last thing you’d want is for it to be a modded $200 first generation netbook with no software or hardware built to take advantage of the magic Pixel Qi screen.

Kindle Screen Vs Pixel Qi ePaper Mode

Next we have a mind-blowing video (courtesy charbax)- .

This changes everything – absolutely no doubt.

Forrester have a research report for $1999 (featured in a forthcoming post) that talks about full frame video on eReaders by 2011. Mr. Bezos talks about how color kindles are multiple years away.

2011? No – it’s here. Take a look at the video – those are screens out of a full fab, not some prototype.

Well, actually it’s going to be end 2009 for the first big batch of PixelQi screens and early 2010 for devices optimized for the Pixel Qi screen.

I love how in the video the Pixel QI COO, John Ryan says -

No, not out of the lab, it actually came out of a full fab … We can get to manufacturing tens of thousands of screens a day.

The future is here.

Will Amazon use Pixel Qi 3qi screens?

Don’t see any other option for Amazon. Also, why wouldn’t they? You have this amazing 3 mode screen that lets you switch between watching color videos and reading ebooks in epaper mode. There’s a backlight.

It really addresses some of the top criticisms of the Kindle i.e.

1. Lack of color. With 3qi Kindles you could switch to color mode whenever you wanted.
2. Lack of Video. That’s supported.
3. Lack of functionality beyond reading. You can have a full fledged netbook + ereader.
4. Lack of backlight.

The big challenge for Amazon will be to figure out how to still keep the focus on reading.

There are two additional drawbacks -

1. It does not address Touch as touch still harms the readability. So we might be a long ways away from a touch 3qi screen.
2. The screens are still expensive to manufacture i.e. somewhere below $200. So Color Kindles, if and when they’re made from 3qi screens, will probably be $100-$150 more than black and white Kindles.

John Ryan admits the Kindle’s eInk screen has some advantages -

1. Kindle has a whiter white than we do.
2. Draws less power.

He also talks of how 3qi screens have faster screen refresh which enables faster editing and being able to watch movies. He shows a somewhat slow looking ice hockey video.

PixelQi have brought us 2011 in 2009.

Instead of a $1,999 Forrester report talking about video epaper in 2011 you will be able to buy a sub $500 netbook/ereader with a Pixel Qi screen by end 2009. Hopefully Amazon adopts the technology and gets us a color Kindle 3 by early 2010.

PixelQi in Full Color Mode (backlight on), side by side with Pixel Qi Screen in ePaper mode (backlight off)

3Qi Screen from PixelQi in color and epaper modes

PixelQi ePaper Mode outdoors

The 3qi epaper screen outdoors

Details on the 3qi screen

1. Size is 10.1″ diagonal.  
2. Screens will be available for netbooks and ereaders in late 2009.
3. 3qi screens support video refresh and fully saturdated color.
4. ePaper mode has 3 times resolution of fully saturated color mode to enable better readability.
5. In 2009 PixelQi are focusing on being a run-in change into netbooks and ereaders which means the devices will not be optimized for these screens and benefits will not be fully felt.
6. In 2010, PixelQi aim for full integration and to improve battery life by 5-fold.  
7. They are pretty clear that they are not connected to EInk Corporation and do not use electrophoretic technology.
8. The resolution in epaper mode is 205 dpi – better than the Kindle’s 167 dpi.

3qi screens in Acer Aspire Ones

Time got to play with some Acer netbooks that had the 3qi screens incorporated and loved the 3qi screens. Time is already proclaiming the technology the future of ereading.

A few snippets -

On these Acer prototypes, the 3Qi display managed to give an extra hour or so of battery life.

In black and white, reflective mode, I couldn’t see any difference when we held up the Kindle alongside the PQ-modded Netbook.

Probably the most important part -

Mary Lou said that a manufacturer could buy PQ’s technology today and have an e-reader that could render high-def text, on a full color page, and video, by the first quarter of next year. The screens are cheap to produce, too—well under $200, she said. Such a device ought to enjoy 40 hours or so of use as an e-reader, between charges.

What this means for Kindle and Amazon

The first thing to keep in mind is that Mary LJ herself is saying first quarter 2010 is when a manufacturer would be able to come out with a device that utilizes the 3qi screens well. Amazon is as well placed as any other manufacturer to use these screens for an ereader/netbook (if they choose to).

The second is that ‘well under $200′ is not good enough at this point. eInk screens cost around $60-$70. $100 more for a color screen with video? Perhaps.

Amazon basically has to choose between a few different strategies, two of which are -

1. Incorporate 3qi into a color Kindle 3.  
2. Wait for the ‘multiple years away’ color eInk screen. An exceptionally bad choice in my opinion.

PixelQi has thrust ereader technology into the future.

A PixelQi color ereader/netbook in early 2010 or an eInk color ereader sometime in 2011? Thats a really easy choice to make.

First, on the 3Qi screens -

1. They’re based on LCDs so should be cheaper to produce than eInk.
2. They have color and support video.
3. 3Qi screens will operate in three modes -
   

   * A full-color, bright, conventional LCD mode.
   *A very low-power, sunlight-readable, reflective e-paper mode.
   *A low-power, basic color transflective mode.

4. There will be 7.5″ and 10.5″ versions.

The new news is that Team Research, the company behind the Astak Mentor eReader, will be releasing an eReader called Spectrum based on 3Qi screen technology by end of the year (October 2009). It’ll also be showcasing them at CES 2010.

Here’s what the Astak Mentor looks like (details available at Astak Mentor AKA Netronix EB900 post) - 

Netronix Eb900 AKA Astek Mentor Pro

Meanwhile PixelQi is having a rather tough time as a company -

The company completed its first round (Series A) funding two months ago. It hasn’t disclosed its investors or how much it has raised, though Jepsen says getting investors for Pixel Qi has been the biggest challenge of her career. The LCD and display industry has become “incredibly risk averse,” says Jepsen, and convincing companies to bet on her idea has been “ridiculously hard.”

Wouldn’t have thought someone on Time’s ’100 most important people in the world’ list would have problems raising finance.

The hold-ups in getting financing haven’t stopped Pixel Qi from trying out new non ePaper products -

We have begun design of a sub-10 watt HDTV that can be used in hundreds of millions of households that don’t have steady, if any, access to electrical power … a target price of $100.

PixelQi will be talking at Annual SID Display Week and Computex in June, and at the TechCrunch Netbook Conference in July. Perhaps we get a demo of 3Qi ePaper then.

First, March 16th they talked about blurring the line between ebooks and netbooks -

Lots of people ask us if we are working on netbooks or ebooks.

The answer is: both.

We are making screens that are more readable than regular laptop screens, and our studies show they are as comfortable to read as electrophoretics in existing ebook readers. But these screens also update quickly, show video, are sunlight readable and (with the backlight on) show full color. In addition, our display screens integrate with touchscreens of many different varieties.

If this sounds somewhat familiar, it’s because this sounds exactly like what Apple’s forthcoming 10″ iTouch is supposed to be – one device to fight off both eReaders and Netbooks.

Two emerging, potentially huge markets that Apple has no presence in – yet.

PixelQi has specifically said that the screens they’ll be producing are 10″ ones (see below).

Second, in early Feb they talked about samples being ready by Spring 2009 (that’s right now) and mass production by summer 2009 -

We will be sampling our 10″ screens this spring and plan to be in high volume mass production this summer. These screens have an epaper state that rivals the best epaper on the market today. What’s different: unlike the other epaper products where one must wait a second or so to change the screen – we provide video rate refresh. Also, while we have a high resolution paper-white black and white, we also provide, in the same screen fully saturated color fidelity – the same as a standard laptop screen – same color, contrast resolution, field of view etc

The timelines match up perfectly – Apple’s 10″ iTouch is rumored to be out in Fall 2009 and Mary Lou Jepsen (PixelQi) is talking about mass production beginning in Summer 2009.

If these screens are Kindle 3 screens Kindle’s sales will take off like a rocket. The only sign that it might be a possibility is that we know Kindle 3 will probably have 9.7″ screens. However, eInk has 9.7″ screens too.

On the other hand, if these are the screens in the new Apple iTouch, Apple will have another blockbuster on their hands, and might steal the eBook and eReader market in a single holiday season.

I wonder whether it’s Kindle 3 or Apple’s 10″ iTouch that PixelQi is making these screens for?

The Context

Mary Lou Jepsen has achieved quite a lot – she was the first employee and CTO at One Laptop Per Child (founded by Nicholas Negroponte), and helped create the XO laptop. One of the key features of the XO was the screen -

can be read in bright sunlight, costs a third that of traditional LCD screens and uses about a tenth of the power.

Her work earned her a place on the Time 2008 Top 100 List. Here’s what an XO Laptop screen looks like, courtesy Adulau at Flickr (we’ll come to why that is important later) -

Unfortunately the XO project is currently going through some tough times – sales fell 93% during the 2008 holiday season – probably because they haven’t kept up with the advent of netbooks, not to mention that charity is tough in the middle of a recession.

Pixel Qi

Jepsen started her own company, Pixel Qi, to commercialize some of the technologies she had invented during her time developing the XO. Its worth noting that Jepsen not only invented the XO laptop’s sunlight-readable display technology, she also co-invented its ultra-low power management system.

Pixel Qi is working on creating screens for netbooks and eReaders. This interesting snippet from Wikipedia explains some of the founding philosophy -

premise: the CPU is no longer important, nor is the operating system. Portables are all about the screen. Typical laptop screens run for about $100 (compared to the CPU which at the low end has hit $10), cause the largest drain on the battery, are difficult to read for hours on end, don’t have integrated touch screens and electronics, and aren’t sunlight readable.  Pixel Qi … using the existing LCD factories as is, but with clever conceptual design changes that allow … move from idea to high volume mass production in less than a year.

What it means for ePaper

This is Pixel Qi’s rather bold claim -

Our first screens will be 10″ diagonal screens for netbooks and eBook readers that will sample in Spring 2009 and ship in high volume in Summer 2009.  These screens … have video refresh and fully saturated color.  The ePaper mode has 3 times the resolution of the color HDTV mode … can be used in sunlight.  Look for them in the market in the second half of 2009.

If they can really pull this off, they’ll revolutionize the entire eBook and eReader industry. They are designing screens with two modes -

1. An ePaper mode with very high resolution.
2. A colour mode with video refresh and fully saturated colour.

What it Means for the Kindle

If Pixel Qi really can deliver screens with these technologies, then unless Amazon incorporates them, the Kindle will be left behind. Whisper Net is a huge advantage – however, a screen capable of dual ePaper and colour modes, with video refresh and longer battery life will be hard to beat.

The claim that devices with these screens will be out in the second half of 2009 is the really ambitious one. If true it creates the possibility that either -

1. Pixel Qi’s technology replaces eInk as the standard technology for eReaders –we’ll probably see it in Kindle 3.0 if that happens. 
2. A competitor uses Pixel Qi technology to create a very compelling Kindle competitor.  

The latter is a distinct possibility because Mary Lou Jepsen has already said in an interview -

“We are working with a number of notebook and e-book makers on a number of different form factors,”