Electronic Newsstand

Posted on July 22, 2008

To celebrate the 75th anniversary of Esquire magazine, the editors plan to publish 100,000 copies of the October 2008 edition with a cover made of electronic paper.

E Ink, an electronic paper developer, has taken the technology it used in devices such as the Amazon Kindle and Sony eReader to develop a version of the technology for use on the historic cover.

Hitting newsstands in September, the cover will feature words and images that scroll across the flexible page. In addition, the inside cover will offer up their first e-paper ad, with Ford pushing its new Flex vehicle.

The technology is based on the principle of electrophoresis, utilizing millions of microcapsules — each roughly the thickness of a human hair or thinner — containing white and black particles. When a voltage is transmitted across the surface of the “paper”(which is really a plastic film laminated to a layer of circuitry), the white or black particles suspended in a liquid rise to the surface.

The microcapsules can be printed using existing screen printing techniques on a variety of surfaces including glass, plastic, fabric and paper.

The market for these displays is expected to grow to $1.7 billion annually over the next five years.

It will be many years before the price of e-paper is even close to that of paper made from trees but in the future, one sheet of electronic paper could contain the contents of not just one magazine, but several.