PPDS Gets A Deployment Of Its Lovely, Pricey E Ink Tableaux Screens … But Just Four Units

November 26, 2024 by Dave Haynes

Color e-paper is great tech, but prices likely have to come down by at least half – or more – before the industry is likely to see broad adoption.

A good case in point is an announcement from PPDS (aka Philips) announcing a deployment of its E Ink-based Philips Tableaux displays at a historic restaurant and boutique hotel in Belgium. The venue is using four of the 25-inch Philips Tableaux Advanced Color ePaper (ACeP) displays, swapping out existing paper-based posters.

That’s great …but it’s four. We can safely assume PPDS and E Ink would like to be making announcements of deployments involving 400 or 4,000, but that’s where we are at. Last time I checked, the per display cost was about $1,900 USD, or about 10X the cost of an LCD monitor of the same size. So worthy sustainability thoughts can tend to run into high cost walls the CFO won’t let users over.

The venue is in the Ghent area, and the screens were put in by local AV integration specialist, TechWorks.

From PR:

Seamlessly integrated into the elegant spaces, without distracting from the curated ambiance, the Philips Tableaux displays have transformed the way the Nenuphar’s team communicates with its customers, eliminating paper – with near zero power consumption.

A technological breakthrough in design and engineering, Philips Tableaux from PPDS is the world’s first ACeP display series to be launched by a global display manufacturer. Ticking all boxes for the Nenuphar team, the display range – which also includes 13” and 32” size variants – delivers unprecedented environmental and energy savings, providing vivid imagery 24 hours a day, seven days a week, unplugged and without using a kW of power for days, weeks, or even years. Minimal power is needed only when changing the image displayed or for remote management.

Content can be easily created and shared on all, or on individual displays, with special offers, restaurant menus, safety messaging and, of course, a library of paintings by Gustave. These are just some examples of how the four Philips Tableaux displays are being used. Portable, and weighing just 3.5kg, installation uses and locations inside and outside* the Nunuphar are, however, potentially infinite, and the displays can be placed in any space, with or without accessible power points.

Nenuphar staff can create a setlist of content to be displayed during specific times of the day, ie. menu changes (specials, availability), in-house marketing (such as happy hour, live music), or business branding for corporate events.