BILLERICA, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dai Nippon Printing, ‘DNP’ (7912.TYO), one of the world’s largest printing companies, and E Ink® Holdings, "E Ink" (8069.TW), the leading innovator of electronic ink technology in the world, today announced a strategic partnership to co-develop and co-market products using E Ink epaper. DNP will leverage its strong sales network in Japan to expand business by developing products targeted at the marketing and sales promotion segment of the retail market, and the security card and smartcard business for the financial and transportation market segments. E Ink will provide the epaper products along with the engineering support. The collaboration will focus on expanding these businesses in the Japanese and Southeast Asia market.
The partnership will focus specifically on developing two types of products. One product line will focus on incorporating E Ink Prism™ color changing film into retail promotion displays used by retailers for new product launches, in-store promotions and numerous marketing and merchandising activities. These retail displays will be more effective by bringing to life displays which today are typically static. E Ink products create value for customers because of characteristics of low power, easy visibility or readability, flexibility and ruggedness.
The other product line will focus on incorporating E Ink Mobius™ displays into NFC-enabled smartcards used by financial institutions for their customers. These products will take advantage of the ultra-low power, flexible and light weight of Mobius displays to provide the end customer value-added information or services. The low power consumption enables additional product functionality without the consumer having to worry about battery life.
“DNP has always focused on developing environmental friendly products that provide unique value to our customers. There are significant synergies between DNPs core technologies, such as surface processing, NFC, and retail displays, and E Ink’s low power color changing film and displays,” said Mr. Hikita, Information Solutions Operations managing director for DNP. “We believe this is a unique opportunity for DNP and E Ink to collaborate and bring to market a new set of products that will change the retail display market and bring greater value to our customers. We are very excited about our partnership with E Ink and the business potential this can lead to.”
“E Ink is extremely excited about the business prospects of this partnership with one of the leading printing companies in Japan and the world. We clearly share a common view of the type of new products that can be enabled by our cooperation on both the technical and business development areas,” said Naoki Sumita, president of E Ink Japan. “DNP has deep expertise and field resources in these areas. This provides E Ink with a unique opportunity to continue our diversification efforts into new markets and applications.”
The new retail and sales promotion products will be marketed by DNP and will incorporate E Ink’s color changing Prism product to more easily attract consumer attention and purchasing decision. Prism will be incorporated into DNP’s original POP product. Due to the low power nature of the Prism, and DNP’s design, the promotion products will be battery powered and can be placed anywhere in the store, just like the original paper product.
The product for financial institutions will incorporate Mobius flexible, low power active matrix displays into DNP’s NFC-based smartcard products. The demand for emoney and cashless services is increasing. There are increasing market and business opportunities for smartcard products that provide the consumer with additional information such as remaining balance, loyalty points, card status, and other possibilities. The low power means customers do not have to worry about battery life and it prolongs shelf life of the display.
The first public demonstration of products from the partnership will be shown in the DNP booth during RETAILTECH JAPAN, the largest and most influential trade show in Japan specializing in retail information systems. The products incorporate Prism into DNP’s retail displays. The show is at the Tokyo Big Sight (Tokyo International Exhibition Center), from March 8-11, in booth RT1206.
About DNP
DNP is one of the world's largest comprehensive
printing companies. We provide a variety of products and services in a
wide range of business fields to consumers and some 30,000 corporate
clients in Japan and around the world. Since founding the company in
1876, we have continued to develop our business by constantly asking
ourselves, “What can we do to improve society?” The company’s motto from
the time of its founding ̶ “Run a civilized business” ̶ expresses the
desire of DNP's founders to contribute to the improvement of people's
lives and the development of society. This desire has been passed down
faithfully to today's DNP. Since the 1950s, DNP has promoted “expansion
printing,” which means expanding our fields of business by broadening
possibilities for the application of printing technologies. From
printing books, magazines, and commercial materials, we progressed into
such fields as packaging, decorative materials, display components, and
electronic devices. Today, DNP is still expanding into new business
fields, including environmental preservation, energy, and life sciences.
DNP has always created “tomorrow's basic” in order to solve problems
faced by businesses, consumers and society. And that is what we intend
to keep on doing.
Contact:
http://www.dnp.co.jp/eng/
About E Ink Holdings
Founded in 1992 by Taiwan's leading
papermaking and printing group YFY (1907.TW), E Ink Holdings Inc.
(8069.TW) has transformed and defined the eReader market with its ePaper
technology, enabling a new multi-billion market in less than 10 years.
Its corporate philosophy aims to deliver revolutionary products, user
experiences, and environmental benefits through advanced technology
development. This vision has led to its continuous investments in the
field of ePaper displays as well as expanding the use of its
technologies into a number of other markets and applications. Its EPD
products make it the worldwide leader for ePaper. Its FFS technologies
are a standard for high end consumer electronic products. Listed in
Taiwan's GreTai Securities Market and the Luxembourg market, E Ink
Holdings is now the world's largest supplier of displays to the eReader
market. For corporate information, please visit www.einkgroup.com
; for EPD information, please visit www.eink.com
/ tw.eink.com.
