Foresight for E-paper development in Taiwan

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to analyse the impact of e-paper on many existing industries including paper, publishing, book distribution, display, handheld device manufacturers and content service providers. Flexible display has been studied by many institutes, firms and market research companies. Some believe that e-paper is an exceptional application for flexible display, and the need for flexible display development for handheld devices and cloud-based e-book content is indisputable.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses the Delphi technique and STEEP (Sociological, Technological, Economic, Environmental and Political aspects) with a panel to analyse a business model and the opportunity for the development of e-paper in Taiwan up to the year 2020.FindingsThe study concludes that e-paper content and customised digital services are an essential part of e-paper development, while hardware and cloud data are no more than a mechanism to show, compute and store data. Thus, whether the screen of a handheld device is flexible may not be of importance. Although e-paper will affect the display industry, it will not substitute for handheld devices and traditional bookstores.Originality/valueThis research can be used as a reference for government, academics, industry and international investors.