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Samsung Want To Sell Liquavista To Amazon

Posted by Soulskill on from the amazon-to-take-over-more-of-the-world dept.

Nate the greatest writes "Bloomberg is reporting early this morning that Liquavista, Samsung's cutting edge electrowetting screen tech research firm, is up for sale. Details are still thin but Bloomberg's unnamed source indicates Amazon is looking to buy Liquavista for somewhere under $100 million. This rumor confirms earlier reports that Amazon had launched a new holding company in the Netherlands and was going to use it to buy Liquavista. There have also been rumors circulating screen tech conferences for the past 5 or 6 months that Samsung was interested in selling the company. No one in the industry really understands why Samsung would want to do that, but I think the latest demo video from Liquavista explains it. This screen tech simply isn't as good as current LCD or OLED screens, and Samsung might be looking to cut their losses."

5 of 18 comments (clear)

  1. But for want of "Wants" by turp182 · · Score: 3

    Seriously.

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    BlameBillCosby.com
  2. Why Amazon by Spy+Handler · · Score: 2

    Samsung, one of the (if not THE) leaders in display manufacturing technology, could not find a profitable way to make these things. And now Amazon - an internet ecommerce website that has zero manufacturing experience or capacity - wants to see if it can do any better?

    1. Re:Why Amazon by wiredlogic · · Score: 2

      It's funny that the Liquavista website has a prominent headline on the front page declaring their acquisition by Samsung... dated January 2011. If they can't keep their public face on the web cleared of old cruft I would be concerned about the rest of the company's internals.

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      I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
    2. Re:Why Amazon by im_thatoneguy · · Score: 3, Insightful

      When you're a samsung manufacturer, samsung will handle the PR and marketing. And why bother when you have nothing to sell?

  3. A lot of promise in the tech by Thagg · · Score: 3, Interesting

    One of the big issues with LCD displays is that they block most of the light going through them; so they are inherently inefficient. The first polarizer blocks 50% right of the bat, and by the time you are done, a color LCD screen showing its brightest white is still blocking probably 85% of the light from the backlight. Electrowetting displays promise to let some 80% of the light through for b/w, and quite a bit more than LCDs for color. For example, 3D shutter glasses currently use LCD displays and they block 60% of the light, electrowetting displays would be far better.

    You know, if they existed.

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    I love Mondays. On a Monday, anything is possible.