We were fortunate enough to grab a brief session with E Ink Vice President of Marketing, Sriram Peruvemba the other day in a bookstore in London, to have a chat about upcoming E Ink technologies and where they would be popping up in the near future. Among the interesting prototypes and samples he showed me were an E Ink access card, which contains a random number generator for instant security access and a mobile phone with a dynamic graphical cover, which changed patterns constantly.

But the ones which really grabbed the attention were the next generation screens which featured a significantly higher contrast display of double current screens. The as yet un-named tech sample he showed me (above and in the video) also featured the ability to run animated content, which gave a Minority Report feel to the whole demo.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxtEdyjda6s

The second product was another un-named tech sample which featured a near indestructible screen, which the company feels will be ideal for student textbooks. Bearing in mind that a recent report has suggested that by 2014 nearly 20% of all student textbooks will be digital, this is definitely a market that could be very profitable for the company in the future.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsEB0KPo0MI

We finished with a fascinating little demo of the e-paper based keypad on the Samsung Alias 2 mobile phone, which was a fascinating demonstration of just what can be done with dynamic signage on modern devices. If and when they get the price down to reasonable levels, it’s not hard to imagine a time when dynamic keyboards, keypads and other control surfaces are the norm rather than the exception.

So, watch out for some of these technologies coming down the line in the next few months. Rollable displays? Nope, due to the problem with using them as touchscreens, but he didn’t discount more foldable displays along the lines of the late lamented Readius. Interesting stuff.