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Taiwanese firm SiPix Imaging has announced it will ship a small volume of color e-paper in the second half of next year.  This puts it far ahead of its rivals.  These displays will be used in e-readers to display books, magazines, and newspapers.

“Making colored electronic paper displays is our top priority,” Tseng said. “We are in talks with customers to supply colored displays ... as [color] would encourage advertisers to place ads on [electronic] publications, which then would be able to provide more content [to readers] for free.”

The market is expected to grow to over $800 million in 2012, up from just $2 million this year.  Fujitsu is said to be one of SiPix Imaging’s partners.

While the future of e-paper seems to be bright, some experts say the price of e-book readers needs to come down before they will become truly successful and mainstream.  Forrester analysts surveyed more than 4,700 online consumers and found the average price they would consider paying for an e-reader is $91 and that they would refuse to consider any device priced over $151.  E-readers like the Kindle go for $200 and up and color e-readers are expected to be a whopping $600 and up.  This presents a problem - or does it?

Avid readers love the Kindle as do gadget geeks.  Plastic Logic’s offering is highly anticipated as is the one upcoming from magazine publisher Hearst.  Sony, iRiver, IREX, and some say even Apple are getting into the game as well.  There are always going to be those who think a device that can only display e-books is stupid and not worth paying much for, but there is also a much larger audience of readers, writers, business people, teachers, and students who understand the beauty and convenience of such a device.

Will the prices eventually drop?  Of course.  As the technology becomes more widespread and easier to produce, the prices will naturally come down.  Look at how much a PC used to cost a few years ago compared to now.  Until then, however, I think e-readers will continue to sell well and that the ebook market will continue to explode.

What do you think?  Do you have an e-reader?  Want one?  Why or why not?

Read [Taipei Times]