Kobo’s newest ereader ships without an external card slot, limiting the average user to only 8GB of storage. That’s just not enough for everyone, which why some Kobo owners have taken to cracking open their device and replacing the internal microSD card found on some models.

Alas, that won’t be possible on the Aura H2O (2017).

I cracked open my unit today and found that there is no internal card slot:

This was to be expected; the Kobo Aura H2O (2017) uses a waterproofing process that involves coating the internal electronics with a water-resistant goo.

The Aura One uses a similar process, and so does the after-market Kindle from Waterfi. That process doesn’t work with card slot, which is why the new Kobo Aura H2O (and the Aura One) don’t have card slots of any kind.

It’s a shame, but also one we were expecting.

I have just canceled my subscription to Grammarly’s writing tool, and after having sent a ranty email to Grammarly’s PR rep I thought it would be helpful to share my criticism of the service.

If you listen to its fans you would think Grammarly is the best grammar-checking tool on the market. This online service scans your work as you are typing, pointing out what it thinks are errors.

I have a different opinion.

I’ve been using Grammarly’s Chrome extension for four months now, and I have a problem with Grammarly’s definition of an error and with how it allows me to fix said "errors".

My issues with Grammarly are two-fold: the service has a very limited vocabulary, and its developers have programmed it to exhibit the moral certainty that it knows better than users.

In terms of vocabulary, I am paying $84 a year for a service that throws false positives when it tries to spellcheck common acronyms, many tech company names, and common technical terms like "ebook".

Now, the limited vocabulary would not be an issue if not for the fact that Grammarly frequently doesn’t let me add words to a custom dictionary unless I visit its site.

And then there’s the way that Grammarly responds to the "errors" it finds.

If, for example, I refer to an author’s ebooks, Grammarly will block me from inserting a link on the word ebooks until after I have resolved the false positive. As a result I sometimes end up with links like this:

The ebooks can be found here.

That is annoying, but there is a bigger problem.

When I am trying to fix an error Grammarly sometimes makes the cursor jump around in ways that interfere with my typing and causes more errors.

Grammarly assumes users are only going to use its service to fix errors. Its developers did not take into account that some users like to correct the text by retyping the correct word or manually deleting the incorrect characters.

Lesaymistthewordisestablishmentariani.

I have been a paying user of Grammarly for the past four months, and I have never been happy with it. It has honestly caused more problems than it solved.

And unfortunately, these are problems that the developers don’t seem to be interested in solving.

I have tweeted at Grammarly on Twitter every once in a while, complaining about the issues I have encountered, but they have never responded. So when I found myself screaming at my computer this morning after Grammarly ruined yet another forum comment, I knew I had to share my complaints.

Tell me, have you had any issues with Grammarly, or a similar tool?

When Kobo released the Kobo Aura H2O in 2014, it had a better frontlight, a waterproof shell that was pleasant to hold, and it didn’t lose any of the features of the Kobo Aura HD.

TheKobo Aura H2O (2014) was clearly an improvement on its predecessor but I wouldn’t make the same claim about the new model, which costs $180 and is going to ship on the 22nd.

On Tuesday Kobo launched the Aura H2O edition 2. This second-gen ereader is styled after the Kobo Aura One and has the same color-shifting frontlight and general design, only with a 6.8″ screen.

And like the Aura One, the new Aura H2O is missing its card slot.

The new Kobo Aura H2O runs Kobo’s proprietary software on a 1GHz Freescale SoloLite CPU with 512MB RAM. It has the same 6.8″, 1430 x 1080 resolution, screen and IR touchscreen as its predecessor, but on the plus side, it also has the new ComfortLight color-shifting frontlight as on the Kobo Aura One.

In physical terms, the new Aura H2O is about the same size and shape as the last model, only it is slightly thinner and has replaced the comfortable rubberized rear shell with a textured plastic shell. It has twice the storage of its predecessor, but no card slot for expansion.

Picture a seven-inch tablet with a 4:3 screen ratio and you will be about right.

O O O

I received a review unit on Thursday, and as I sit here writing this post Tuesday night I find myself disappointed.

While I am generally fond of Kobo hardware, the tradeoffs Kobo made in the new Aura H2O’s design do not appeal.

The new device gained its new frontlight at the expense of a card slot and a comfortable shell, making it less of an upgrade than a sidestep.

There’s simply no obvious improvement over the last model. Even the screen resolution is the same as on the original Kobo Aura HD, a device which was released in 2013. (Yes, it is four years later and E-ink and Kobo still have not bumped the screen resolution.)

Furthermore, the new Aura H2O does not have the OverDrive integration found in the Aura One. I checked with Kobo, and they said: "we will ensure to let you know if we decide to integrate the OverDrive feature in other devices in the future".

All in all, I can’t recommend this device.

If you want a 6.8″ screen, get the previous model. It can do everything the new Aura H2O can do except change the color of the frontlight, and you can find it cheap on Ebay.

But if you really like the red-shifting frontlight then you’re better off with the Aura One. Its screen is larger and sharper, and it supports direct Overdrive integration.

Yes, the Aura One costs $50 more, but it’s still a better value.

Google is a schizoid company. On the one side, we have engineers inventing tech like AMP, a search engine, and self-driving cars and generally making the world a better place.

On the other side, however, are the ad folks that actually generate all the revenue.  They’re responsible for pushing all the organic search results off of the search results page, allowing interstitial adverts on mobile sites, and generally making the experience of using Google' products and services worse.

According to Techcrunch, the latter got the upper hand today:

Google today announced a change to its AdSense policy that will remove a limitation previously in place that restricted certain kinds of ads “above the fold” – meaning, visible on a website without scrolling down the page. The company says that it will now allow its 300×250 medium rectangle ads to be implemented above the fold on the mobile web, without resulting in AdSense violations.

Oh great.

These ads take up a good amount of space on a small screen as it is, but at least until today you wouldn’t have to encounter them unless you were scrolling down the page while reading an article. Now Google is saying they can appear on the visible part of the page you see when you first click through to a mobile website. That doesn’t leave much room for content – like the headline, leading image or article text – especially on smaller-screened devices.

This will mean more screen real estate taken up by an ad and less content, so it’s going to suck for users.

That said, I can understand why Google changed their policy. Like any business dependent on ad revenues, the only way to make more money is to charge more for ads, increase the userbase so you can show more ads, or find new places to display more ads.

Google has a financial incentive to make the user experience worse (Facebook operates under a similar incentive), and today their attention turned to mobile websites.

Existing mobile ads focused on a 320 x 80 ad unit, and it hardly pays anything at all. So if Google wants to make more money then they have to allow for bigger ads on mobile.

This policy change was inevitable, as were all the others.

While many sites misinterpreted last week’s annual report from the UK Publisher Asociation, CNN went above and beyond.

CNN’s Ivana Kottasová not only misunderstood the stats from the UK PA, she also dug up and misunderstood the latest industry stats released by the Association of American Publishers.

New data suggest that the reading public is ditching e-books and returning to the old fashioned printed word.

Sales of consumer e-books plunged 17% in the U.K. in 2016, according to the Publishers Association. Sales of physical books and journals went up by 7% over the same period, while children’s books surged 16%.

The same trend is on display in the U.S., where e-book sales declined 18.7% over the first nine months of 2016, according to the Association of American Publishers. Paperback sales were up 7.5% over the same period, and hardback sales increased 4.1%.

The problem with CNN’s report is not the facts (which are correct) so much as the context and the interpretation of said facts.

While CNN and other sites are implying that the sales data reflects the entire market, the AAP and the UK PA stats only reflects a part of their respective industries.

For example, in the UK the Publisher Association said consumer ebook sales totaled £203 million, down 17%.  As I reported last week, the pseudonymous Data Guy has an independent estimate which disagrees:

Author Earnings February 2017 report had the UK market at roughly 95,000,000 units and £327 million consumer sales.

In other words, the Publishers Association missed about 38% of the market.

And I am not the only one who says the PA’s data is incomplete. As The Bookseller pointed out when they covered this story last week:

E-book specialist Bookouture sold six million e-books in 2016, yet its numbers are not recorded in the yearbook. Ditto those of Head of Zeus, Endeavour Press, Amazon Publishing or self-published writers. Were they included, our understanding of the fiction market would change fundamentally.

And as for the US market, CNN is wrong to cite AAP stats and call them "US ebook sales" because the AAP does not say their data covers the entire market.

Instead, the footnote for the AAP’s monthly reports says that "StatShot tracks revenues for 1,200 publishers", and AAP spokesperson Marisa Bluestone confirmed that the AAP’s stats reflects what the publishers are earning, and not what consumers are spending.

So not only as CNN misunderstood the scope of the AAP data; they also misinterpreted publisher revenue as ebook sales.

It is generally accepted that the AAP data only covers about half the industry. You can find a more detailed breakdown of AAP data, and what it doesn’t cover, on the Author Earnings website.

To be fair, CNN is not the first to make that mistake; it is quite common for mainstream media to misunderstand book industry stats. (Then again, CNN’s Ivana Kottasová is a _financial_ reporter so you would think she would pick up on the difference.)

And that difference matters.

It’s important to know what the data really says and what it really means because it is being used to spin a narrative that ebook sales are declining.

The Guardian, for example, published not one but two articles last Thursday which made the claim that consumers were turning away from ebooks, and yet they don’t solid data to back that up.

What the data really says is that _publisher_ ebook revenues are declining. And once we understand that, it raises the question of why these publishers are experiencing a decline in revenue?

As anyone who follows digital publishing industry can tell you, publishers have been raising their ebook prices over the past several years to the point that print books are often now cheaper than ebooks. (It’s not entirely their fault; Amazon likes to deeply discount print books.)

This has led to an entirely expected decline in sales, and does not, as The Guardian would have you believe, reflect consumer preference for one format over the other so much as consumers buying whichever format is cheapest.

The UK Publisher Association released its annual report on industry revenue, and once again the media is selectively reporting the publicly available stats in support of the narrative that ebook sales are declining.

I have the press release at the end of this post, and I won’t be rehashing it. But I will point out the problem in the stories reported by The Bookseller, The Guardian, and The Telegraph.

If you read the various reports you will learn that print sales up by 8% to £3 billion while ebook sales were down 3% in the UK last year, to £538 million. You would also find out that consumer ebook sales dropped 17%, to £204 million, in 2016.

Both of these stats are true, but not one of the stories linked to above will tell you the information you need to put those two factoids in context.

What they did not tell you was that data from the pseudonymous Data Guy pegged the UK ebook market at £327 million in consumer sales last year. (This is based on the February 2017 data, so it is imperfectly reliable.)

Yes, the UK PA is only tracking about 62% of the market, and yet everyone (with the exception of The Bookseller) is treating it like it is the whole of market.

Furthermore, they also neglected to report that the UK PA had stated that total digital sales were up 6%, to £1.7 billion. (Everyone ignored a similar increase last year as well.)

Everyone is ignoring the larger trend of growth in digital sales so they can report that ebook sales are down.

Damn the facts; the narrative must be maintained at all costs.

O O O

Press release:

Figures released today by the Publishers Association shows that 2016 was a record breaking year for the publishing industry with sales of books and journals reaching £4.8bn, their highest ever level.

The increase in sales of 7% on the previous year is the largest growth in a decade, when in 2007 digital was first included.

Industry growth has been fuelled by success both home and abroad, with export sales rising by 6% to £2.6bn and now responsible for 54% of total revenues.

Highlights include:

• Overall digital sales up 6% to £1.7bn despite a continuation of the drop in eBook sales down 3%
• Physical sales up by 8% to £3bn on last year rising to the highest level since 2012
• Europe remains the largest export market accounting for 35% of exports

Chief Executive of the Publishers Association, Stephen Lotinga, said:

“UK Publishing is a world leader and these figures confirm that the industry is flourishing due to the hard work and ingenuity of its superb publishing houses and workforce.

“All of us have at some point in our lives enjoyed the work of a great author, used a high quality textbook, or benefitted from the sharing of academic literature and that is only possible due to the continued success of the publishing industry.

“Whatever the makeup of the new government, they must ensure that any post-Brexit trade settlement it reaches with the EU and other countries reinforces this continued success.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

What has fuelled the increase in exports?

The strength of exports sales is particularly apparent within academic and research publishers.

Export figures for learned journals collected for the first time show 87% of revenues coming from exports.

However, many other areas of publishing have also seen substantial increases in their exports:

• Exports of children’s books increased by 34% to £116m
• Publishers of primary and secondary learning materials saw export sales rise by 11% to £144m, with digital exports increasing by 136%
• Non-Fiction exports were up by 10% to £264m
• Sales to East and South Asia were up 10% to £231m
• Growth returned to North America with sales up 19% to £136m

What is happening with digital sales?

Digital sales also substantially increased in 2016 reflecting the significant investment publishers are making in new technology.

Overall digital sales increased by 6% to £1.7bn and account for 35% of total revenues.

The figures also show:

• eBook sales were down by 3% to £538m continuing a trend seen for the first time last year. This was in large part down to a 17% drop in the total consumer eBook market to £204m
• Total consumer audio downloads continued to perform well up by a further 28% to £16m
• Total sales of academic/professional digital books were up by 6% to £277m

What’s the state of play with consumer publishing?

Overall consumer publishing performed well, rising by 5% to £1.8bn.

• This was fuelled in large part by a return to growth for children’s books sales which increased by 16% to £365m
• Non-fiction sales also rose by 9% to £884m
• Fiction sales fell by 7% to £525m meaning the category has now dropped by 23% since 2012 signifying a continued shift in consumer spending.

What’s the state of play with educational publishing?

Overall educational publishing was up by 5% to £336m

• While domestic sales saw a modest increase of 1%it was a strong rise in exports of 11% which drove overall growth
• Exports were particularly strong to East and South Asia, up 27%, and South and Central America, rising 34%
• Although digital remains a small proportion overall of educational publishing sales, it saw an increase of 25% in 2016

What’s the state of play with academic publishing?

Overall academic and professional publishing was up by 10% to £2.4bn

• Publisher sales of academic and professional books rose 9% to £1.1bn
• Total income from journals rose 10% to £1.2bn
• Share of journal income from subscriptions fell to 79% while income from Open Access article processing charges increased by 46% to £81m

Apple has officially blocked the Sony Reader application from the iOS App Store, a move that prevents Sony from offering its digital reading platform on iPhones and iPads. While Sony recently successfully launched an Android version of its e-book software, its plans for the Apple ecosystem have been derailed after months of delays. Originally scheduled for a late 2010 release, the app’s launch window was repeatedly pushed back, with sources indicating that Apple’s approval process was the primary bottleneck.

The rejection highlights a significant shift in Apple’s App Store policies regarding digital content sales. According to the New York Times and statements from Steve Haber, president of Sony’s digital reading division, Apple has altered its requirements for third-party developers. Apple is now insisting that applications no longer bypass its own payment system. Specifically, developers are being told they cannot sell items like e-books within an app or provide access to content purchased through external websites unless those purchases are also processed via Apple’s in-app payment architecture.

This policy change means Apple intends to take a commission on all digital content consumed within its mobile hardware environment. While many current e-book apps, such as Amazon’s Kindle, currently direct users to an external web browser to buy books—avoiding Apple’s 30% transaction fee—Sony’s rejection suggests that this workaround may no longer be viable. Apple reportedly clarified that any application offering access to external media must also provide a built-in purchase option that utilizes Apple’s billing system.

The industry is now watching closely to see how this will impact other major players. If Apple enforces these rules consistently, dominant competitors like Amazon could face a difficult choice: integrate Apple’s payment system and lose a portion of their revenue, or risk being removed from the App Store entirely. Commentators have noted that while smaller developers may have to comply, a confrontation with Amazon could alienate a large segment of iOS users who rely on the Kindle ecosystem. As of now, existing applications appear to have a grace period to adapt to these new mandates, but the long-term accessibility of third-party e-book stores on iOS remains uncertain.

The AlphaSmart Neo is a dedicated, portable word processor that offers a minimalist alternative to modern computers. For those unfamiliar with the device, it is essentially a keyboard integrated with a small screen, designed exclusively for text entry without internet connectivity.

The Neo often serves as an affordable substitute for high-end distraction-free writing tools like the Freewrite. While many writers turn to longhand on paper to avoid the digital interruptions of a laptop, the AlphaSmart Neo provides the efficiency of typing at a fraction of the cost. Used units can frequently be found on secondary markets like eBay for as little as $15 to $70.

The hardware is intentionally simple. It features a full-sized keyboard and a monochrome LCD screen. The software is limited to basic utilities such as a spell checker, a calculator, and search-and-replace functions. It also includes simple "applets" originally intended for classroom settings. The device can store approximately 200 pages of text distributed across eight dedicated files, which are easily accessible via specific keys. When a draft is complete, the Neo connects to a computer through a USB cable, functioning as a keyboard that "types" the stored text into any word processing software.

One of the most remarkable features of the AlphaSmart Neo is its energy efficiency. Operating on just three AA batteries, the device boasts a battery life of roughly 700 hours. Some users report utilizing a single set of batteries for over a year, even while completing full-length novels.

The device’s physical limitations are often cited as its greatest strengths for creative work. The screen shows only three to six lines of text at a time, which discourages immediate self-editing and forces the writer to focus on forward momentum. While standard keyboard shortcuts and navigation tools are available for minor corrections, the hardware is fundamentally optimized for generating first drafts rather than performing complex revisions.

In terms of portability, the Neo is comparable in size and weight to an 11-inch MacBook Air. While it lacks the slim profile of a modern tablet, it remains a lightweight option for writing in public spaces like libraries or cafes.

The primary appeal of such a single-purpose tool is the fosterage of deep focus. Modern laptops often prove counterproductive due to constant notifications and the temptation of "research" that dissolves into aimless web browsing. The Neo eliminates these distractions entirely. For many writers, the device fits into a workflow where the initial, focused draft is produced on the Neo and then transferred to a computer for the final stages of editing and formatting. This method offers a flexible, "zen-like" alternative to being tethered to a traditional workstation.

A member of MobileRead has just posted a photo of what may be the next Kindle.

Originally posted on a Chinese forum, the photos show a tablet-shaped device with a flush (shiny) screen whose only distinguishing feature is the label "Kindle".

We don’t know the model name or really much in the way of details, but the original source speculates that this device has the same CPU and 300 dpi screen as on the previous models.

It is reportedly also waterproof, but you should take that and other speculation with a grain of salt.

This leak, if it is a leak, is rather thin. It’s not like last year when the spec sheet and product photos for Kindle Oasis leaked weeks before it launched.

That leak had enough supporting evidence to convince everyone it was real. This one, on the other hand, is so thin it could jut as easily be someone’s practical joke.

I haven’t been able to find any hands-on user reports in the week since Sony Japan announced their new writing slate, the DPT-RP1, and that is unfortunate because it means all we have to go on is the following highly-edited video from Sony.

Sony Japan posted this video last Tuesday. It purports to show the DPT-RP1 in use, but if you look carefully you will notice that several segments of the video were selectively edited in order to create a false impression of a faster response time.

Even so, it’s still pretty cool.

The video shows several software upgrades, including a two-page mode where you can have a page of notes open on one half of the screen and a PDF open on the other half of the screen.

The video also shows the new NFC unlock feature where you can unlock the DPT-RP1 by swiping either a card or a smartphone over a sensor, and the new clip for the stylus (the previous model had a loop).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLOoBibRmwY

The DPT-RP1 runs on a Marvell IAP140 quad-core chip with 16GB storage, Wifi, and Bluetooth. Its 13.3″ Carta E-ink display has both a capacitive and stylus touchscreens, and a screen resolution 1650 × 2200.

That is a lot of hardware for a device that only supports PDFs.

The DPT-RP1 is scheduled to be released in September, with a retail price of $700.

Kindle Unlimited funding rose in March 2017 to $17.7 million, Amazon announced on Friday. That was an increase almost a million dollars over the funding pool for February 2017.

Meanwhile, the per-page rate dipped to $0.0046, down slightly from $0.00497 for February 2017. the rate also dipped in several other markets.

• US: $0.0046 (USD)
• Germany: €0.0031 (EUR)
• UK: £0.0034 (GBP)
• Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy: €0.0046 (EUR)
• Brazil: R$ 0.01113 (BRL)
• Japan: 0.5170 (JPY)
• Mexico: 0.7661 (MXP)
• Australia, India, Canada: no data

P.S. Here’s a list of the monthly funding pools. It does not include the bonuses paid out each month.

• July 2014: $2.5 million (Kindle Unlimited launches early in the month)
• August 2014: $4.7 million
• September 2014: $5 million
• October 2014: $5.5 million
• November 2014: $6.5 million
• December 2014: $7.25 million
• January 2015 – $8.5 million
• February 2015: $8 million
• March 2015: $9.3 million
• April 2015: $9.8 million
• May 2015: $10.8 million
• June 2015: $11.3 million
• July 2015: $11.5 million
• August 2015: $11.8 million
• September 2015: $12 million
• October 2015: $12.4 million
• November 2015: $12.7 million
• December 2015: $13.5 million
• January 2016: $15 million
• February 2016: $14 million
• March 2016: $14.9 million
• April 2016: $14.9 million
• May 2016: $15.3 million
• June 2016: $15.4 million
• July 2016: $15.5 million
• August 2016: $15.8 million
• September 2016: $15.9 million
• October 2016: $16.2 million
• November 2016: $16.3 million
• December 2016: $16.8 million
• January 2017: : $17.8 million
• February 2017: : $16.8 million
• March 2017: $17.7 million

Self Publisher Bibel, Amazon

The German bookseller Thalia has achieved the booby prize of bookselling: it is now selling ebooks in its brick-and-mortar stores.

A reader can select an ebook and buy it in the shop without having to register in the bookstore. After paying the total at the register, the customer receives a download code which they can enter into their Thalia account online.

After entering the code, the ebook can be read on the Tolino eRraders, on the PC or via the free Tolino app for Android and iOS. The Thalia bookshops offer free wifi for download in store, or customers can have their purchase delivered directly to their existing Thalia account so that the ebook is available for direct download from the Tolino cloud.

In a way this sounds a lot like the ebook gift cards that Amazon briefly tested in Seattle, or the gift card service Enthrill recently shuttered before selling the tech to Firebrand.

But the key difference is that Thalia is selling ebooks without gift cards.

This is an elegant solution, but to what problem?

B&N, Amazon, or any of the Tofino partners could have offered this service years ago, and no one – because customers don’t want this any more than ebook gift cards.

After all, why would you get the ebook gift card when you can just use the free Wifi to buy the ebook online? Less muss, less fuss, and best of all you can use your favorite platform.

Boersenblatt

Authors who distribute their audiobooks through Author’s Republic are finding out today that the company has been acquired by a new holding company, RB Media.

RBmedia, a newly launched global leader in spoken audio content and digital media distribution technology, today announced its acquisition of Audiobooks.com, an innovator in the on-demand audiobooks sector. With Audiobooks.com, RBmedia not only produces bestselling spoken audio content, it also offers a technology platform that distributes more than 700,000 digital media titles. RBmedia has unparalleled consumer reach through Audiobooks.com, 10,000+ library partnerships, and consumer digital resellers.

An app-based subscription service, Audiobooks.com provides access to more than 100,000 bestsellers and classics.

RB Media also owns Tantor Audio, Recorded Books, WF Howes, and Christian Audio, and through Audiobook.com it distributes to a lot of devices including Android Wear and Sonos speakers.

But the main reason today’s announcement caught my attention is that Audiobooks.com also owns Author’s Republic. This subsidiary launched in 2015 to help authors create and distribute their audiobooks.

So rather than just being a footnote in industry news, this change might directly affect authors through changes in policy.

It’s definitely worth future attention.

Sony and E-ink have been working together since before ereaders were a thing, and now they have announced a new joint venture.

E-ink and Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation, announced that the two companies have agreed to establish a joint venture ("JV") responsible for planning, designing, developing, manufacturing, selling, distributing and licensing products that utilize electronic paper displays, as well as related applications and the integration platform for system partners.

…

The JV is officially registered in Taiwan and has its Japan subsidiary registered in April. The company operation will be started soon after obtaining required regulatory approvals. E Ink’s subsidiaries and Sony Semiconductor Solutions jointly invest approximately 70% of JV shares and are the major shareholders leading the JV’s business to success. The remaining shares are subscribed by venture capital companies investing in rising startups. The paid in capital is NTD 420 million (New Taiwan Dollars).

JV announcements are usually about as interesting as balance sheets, but this is one that deserves attention.

Sony and E-ink have been working together on and off for 14 years, and they keep coming up with something interesting.

When they first collaborated in the early aughts, these two companies gave us the 6″ E-ink screen size as well as that early ereader, the Sony Librie.

Sony and E-ink are literally the reasons why the Kindle has the screen size it does – that’s how important their cooperation was.

And then after about another decade of work behind the scenes, they gave us the 13.3″ screen size and flexible Mobius screen tech.

So while at first glance one might think there’s little reason for anything more than bland optimism while regurgitating the press release, the history these two companies share have this blogger excited at the possibilities of what they might do next.