These flexible electronic displays will make life much easier for people who lug around laptops or for those who wish they could carry their big, heavy computers everywhere. The manufacturers of these new devices say they could some day be used as:

• Electronic newspapers that can be folded or rolled when not in use and then opened to display the latest news
• Flexible strips for store shelves that display updated price and product information
• Watch bands or bracelets that offer streaming news
• Some companies are considering working the technology into lines of clothing, but this idea is still a few years in the making

What is in the making now is a more modest rollable display. It is being produced at the rate of 100 per week and is said that it may reach production levels of 1 million a year by the end of 2005. The flexible electronic display is a rectangular screen, made of flexible plastic, just three times the thickness of a sheet of paper and measuring five inches diagonally and curls into a tube less than two inches. An internal layer of electronic ink drops creates black text on a white background, and the whole device weighs just 3.5 grams.

The flexible screens will be aimed first at specialty niches, such as the military, which are thinking about the technology for its uniforms. They could be used to display enemy coordinates on updated wristbands.

As for the consumers, we won’t be seeing the e-maps and e-newspapers that roll up till a few years from now, but manufacturers say a stiff version of e-paper is about to hit the market. Sony is expected to release an e-book--an electronic reader that can be loaded with a library full of literature.

Washington Post February 2, 2004