Qualcomm planning to license Mirasol display technology
Mirasol displays are transflective, which is something of a combination between traditional LCD displays and eInk. The idea is that you get the color and speed of an LCD display, but the readability in direct sunlight of an eInk display. We have seen some pretty amazing demos of the technology, but only one device so far, which is an eReader that never made it out of Korea. We've made it perfectly clear for a long time that Mirasol displays are something that we want to see in devices sooner rather than later, but each time the news comes out, it seems like those devices are farther and farther away.
Qualcomm, the company that have created Mirasol displays, has decided to license the technology, but still sell "certain Mirasol products". In the latest investor call, Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs said, "with respect to QMT, we're now focusing on licensing our next-generation Mirasol display technology and will directly commercialize only certain Mirasol products. We believe that this strategy will better align our updated roadmap with the addressable opportunities."
Unfortunately, this doesn't seem like very good news for anyone hoping to finally see Mirasol displays on the market. The big thing is: if no manufacturers wanted to purchase Mirasol displays for use in devices, why would they now license the technology? It doesn't really make sense, but we do hope something comes out of it. Perhaps the problem is that Qualcomm was never able to squash the lag problems inherent in transflective displays, so maybe someone else can crack that code.
source: Seeking Alpha via The Verge
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