Marvell and E Ink collaborated to develop processors for e-readers

Marvell in collaboration with E Ink, the supplier of electronic paper display (EPD) is shipping eReader processor available in complete turnkey platforms aimed at the fast-growing eReader market.

"With this announcement, Marvell raises the technology bar and takes the lead in the eReader market," said Ms. Weili Dai, Marvell's Co-founder and Vice President and General Manager of the Company's Consumer and Computing Business Unit at Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. "Because this is a total platform solution - including Marvell key technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G modem, and power management - the ARMADA eReader has the potential to deliver the first mass market product accessible and affordable to billions of consumers around the world. Marvell's passion is to give consumers more choice, improved features, and greater access to more information with eReaders that are aimed at education, health, and business applications."

As one of the fastest growing consumer markets, eReaders continue to grow in popularity due to falling retail prices, improved features, and fast growing library of digital content. According to a recent iSuppli Research report, eReaders are projected to top 18 million units shipped in 2012, from 1.1 million units last year.

"Our collaboration with Marvell will deliver an integrated System-on-a-Chip (SoC) solution to the market," said Sriram Peruvemba, Vice President of Marketing at E Ink. "This SoC solution is aimed at offering highly desired features at competitive price points."

The recently signed agreement between E Ink and Marvell includes joint development and cross licensing of next generation ePaper timing controllers and system platforms.

Central to this new eReader platform is a commercially available SoC that integrates EPD controller and Marvell ARMADA 166E application processor on a single chip.

The ARMADA 166E is designed for renderings of high-resolution PDF documents and support for the latest ePaper technologies in new smaller, slimmer form factors.

The two companies are also joining hands with FirstPaper, LLC in developing this technology.

"Periodicals are the next big frontier in eReading," said Gil Fuchsberg, President of FirstPaper, which will bring a new eReading ecosystem to market in 2010. "To enable great newspaper and magazine reading experiences, eReading devices need the right tools to make richer layouts and complex content come to life. We're excited to be working with Marvell to bring such tools to the market." Device manufacturers will be able to take full advantage of FirstPaper's integrated content and commerce platform with the ARMADA 166E.

"The enTourage eDGe is the industry's first dualbook, combining an E Ink reader with a netbook, notepad and audio/video player and recorder into one central device," said Asghar Mostafa, President and CEO of enTourage Systems. "The ARMADA 166E gives the enTourage eDGe the power it needs to meet people's multiple, yet simultaneous digital needs, at an attractive price point within reach of all consumers."

Consumer ready eReaders are expected to be available to end-users in 2010.