Marvell, E Ink Makes Ereader System-on-Chip

Marvell and E Ink making ereader babies.

The ereader segment still has a lot of headroom, and Marvell is hoping to make its mark with a new ebook platform.

Marvell has teamed up with electronic paper display (EPD) supplier E Ink to create a highly integrated ereader processor and complete turnkey platform design for the ereader market.

The platform gives OEMs a starting point to design its ereaders without starting from scratch. Marvell brings to the table its new Armada line of ARM-based processors with its 16XE System-on-Chip design and pairs it together with E Ink’s display technology.

“With this announcement, Marvell raises the technology bar and takes the lead in the e-reader 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 e-reader 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 e-readers that are aimed at education, health, and business applications.”

There are already three OEMs with the new Marvell/E Ink platform ready.

·         Plastic Logic’s QUE - http://www.plasticlogic.com/

·         Spring Design’s Alex eReader - http://www.springdesign.com/resource/jsp/

·         enTourage eDGe - http://www.entourageedge.com/

Interestingly enough, the ereaders--all based on the same platform--differ in design enough that they appear to be unique in their form and features. Are you wishing for an ereader under the tree this year?