Sharp’s sub-1mm e-book reader

[engadget] Sharp claims it will have a paper-thin (i.e., under 1mm) reader in shops by 2007. It’s working on a colour “LCD paper” that doesn’t need a light source, apparently by upping the amount of light the paper reflects. Sharp already has tie-ups with 7000 content providers for the Zaurus Town site it offers to users of its handhelds, so it sounds like it could slide into the e-book (or rather e-newspaper and e-manga) market with relative ease.

It’s instructive that Sony is apparently soon to bring two Japanese national newspapers into the content fold for its Librie e-book reader, too: its self-destruct after 90 days content policy would certainly be easier to swallow if you were downloading the morning paper rather than the latest Haruki Murakami novel.