Pixel Qi display technology “coming soon”

Often, we see demos of great technology, only to see it never come out in a usable form. I was kind of worried that this may be the case with Pixel Qi and its 3Qi display technology. Instead of being a whole new type of display, replacing LCD, Plasma, OLED etc ad nauseum, 3Qi is a layer that’s included in the manufacturing process of garden variety LCD screen.

With this inserted layer, it allows a traditional LCD screen to be read in direct sunlight. The display desaturated to almost the point of greyscale, but the impressive thing is that the contrast remains, and is almost as readable as an e-ink display, which is already limited to greyscale. Step back inside, and you’re back to an LCD screen.

What makes the June 2009 video even more interesting is that a few days ago at the MPA Innovation Summit, there was a panel that included mary Lou Jepson, founder and CEO of Pixel Qi. According to someone attended the panel…

…[the 3Qi]display technology is about to make its debut on a variety of new devices. First up is a tablet that Mary Lou said would be announced by an as-yet undisclosed OEM, perhaps in November.

Futhermore…

I asked the panel, which included Doug Carlson of Zinio and Marc Canel, who oversees the software side of Qualcomm, how long before we’d have what I think of as the “everything screen”—a first-generation color display, with a multi-touch 8-inch screen and wireless connectivity, that can handle everything from magazines to music to movies. They all agreed that we’d have a number of these within six months, no problem. [from HERE]

Ms. Jepson posted on the official Pixel Qi blog that this is indeed true, but they’re staying mum on who’s going to be using it…

Sorry not to be able to reveal more, but our customers: the netbook, ebook and tablet makers really need to announce their products on their schedules [from Pixel Qi].

As mentioned in the video, the 3Qi display doesn’t cost much to incorporate into LCD either.  The technology was originally developed for the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, to put inexpensive computers into the hands of children in developing countries.  The addition of 3Qi to a standard LCD screen in the the tens of dollars, at mass production level, a cost I imagine just about anyone who’s used a laptop in a bright area would be willing to pay.

If the technology does start finding its way into low cost tablets (and I hope convertible netbooks in particular), this could be a bit of a blow to single function ebook readers such as the Amazon Kindle, especially since many netbooks are now seeing battery life hitting the 10 hour mark, and that’s with the display backlight on.  It would be nice to see this screen tech slipped into mobile phones, since they’re the most frequently viewed outdoor screen.  I’m hoping  3Qi will also appear in the rumoured Acer 1820p, pictured below.  Other than the convertible screen, the 1820p shares many specs to the Acer 1410.