Windows Phone Thoughts: How Long Will We Have To Wait for Flexible-Display Technology?

"FLEXIBLE video displays, like jet-packs and talking robots, are a science-fiction staple: think of the self-updating newspapers in 'Minority Report', or the video wallpaper in 'Total Recall'. For years, research laboratories, big companies and start-ups have been working hard to turn the idea into reality. <...> But while the technology has come a long way in the past few years, it still faces a number of challenges. What makes a flexible display so difficult to build?"



We've been hearing on-and-off about the promise of flexible-display technology and recently, it seems to have been more "off" than "on". So what's the hold-up? Well, as one might imagine, there are several technical challenges to creating flexible displays. Many which are covered in good detail in this article. The good news is that there are multiple companies aiming to bring this technology to market. The bad news (for us geeks anyway) seems to be that this technology will be aimed more initially at store shelf displays and advertisements instead of consumer electronics. Is this sales and marketing strategy the right one? Can you see a huge demand for this with mobile devices? And if so, what value proposition does this bring to the average consumer? Finally, there is mention of a Flexible Display Centre at Arizona State University. Any Arizona State students out there who would like partake in some show-and-tell? ;)