LG's Solar-Powered E-Book

By Michael Kanellos

Sony (SNE) and Amazon (AMZN) have e-books on the market. LG (LPL) is trying to do them one better by coming out with one with an integrated solar panel.

The integrated thin film solar panel is around 9.6 percent efficient and adds about 20 grams to the weight of the e-book, according to Tech-On, a website that covers Asian technologies. Put the e-book in the sun for four to five hours and it will run for a day. That makes it a little more functional than Sharp's solar cell-enhanced phone. Putting the phone in the sun for ten minutes gives you about a minute of talk time.

"E-Books are attracting a lot of attention because they offer the advantage of storing thousands of books worth of content in an easy-to-carry device," Ki Yong Kim, head of the Solar Cell Office at LG Display, told Tech-On.

E-books have long looked for their breakout moment. Two companies, including one founded by Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard, flogged the concept in the late 90s. Customers didn't bite. Sony's e-book from two years ago didn't rocket up the charts either. But the Kindle from Amazon has done surprisingly well, a clue that maybe the customer acceptance is occuring this time around. Electronic books can save paper and fuel consumed in transportation.

Comments

[Snitzer:]

Breakout cost point for well featured e-book somewhere below 100.00, or at least that's what my own personal, battered and world weary wallet tells me.

Oct 13 01:18 PM