Yes, thanks, I know. I knew (had met with) Plastic Logic in the UK several years before I went to the Que launch at CES in 2010. It came out of the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge.
The Sony screen is made by LG. It's a much bigger operation.
Very good - then don't you also share my skepticism about this as a viable product?
The first meetings I had about Que was actually with Hearst, if I recall. The Plastic Logic play was backed by content providers seeking a new channel, including Barnes & Noble. The Sony play is backed by a hardware provider seeking a new channel. So producers have this need, but what about customers?
I find myself having the same three doubts I had back in the day:
1) Nobody cares if a screen is flexible for these particular product applications (especially for the Que, which mounted flexible display tech in a rigid form).
2) It's a solution in search of a problem. Who is clamoring for this device at market scale? Even for a specific vertical?
3) Haven't we learned that these devices need the support of a broader ecosystem? That developers need to find opportunity in a platform for it to succeed, and that requires a certain critical mass? How is that going to happen serving a niche vertical market?
The Que was aiming at a much wider market, and when the iPad was announced, they folded.
Sony is aiming at a much smaller professional market, and it has a chance where people don't use Latin alphabets, including Japan. I don't know enough about the US legal scene to know whether it will find a market there, but Worldox thinks it's worth a go....
The Sony screen is made by LG. It's a much bigger operation.