I spent my life trying to make products that are useful to human beings. Sometimes they work out, and sometimes not, thus a new chronicle of "Brilliant Failures":
A Sunlight readable LCD
When I got my first laptop computer, I imagined working in the back yard or on the beach. How cool would that be? But when I took it out in the back yard, I discovered that you can't see the screen in daylight!! What a bust!
I had heard about "transflective displays" (both transparent and reflective), and did some research to see if I could get one for my laptop. Although such a thing existed, they used HUGE amount of power, as you need a 200W backlight in order to compete with the sunlight. Therefore, they were typically powered by 110v AC, and were not portable.
Meanwhile, Nicolas Negroponte was the founder of the MIT Media Lab back in the '80's, when it was at the cutting edge of the New Media movement. There were a lot of big things that came out of the Media Lab, and one of them was a thing called "One Laptop per Child". The idea was that poor kids around the world needed a low-cost, low power, computer so they won't be left behind in the new digital age. It needed to be viewable in sunlight, since poor kits in Africa don't have a roof over their head, and low power consumption because in many places, it would have to be charged by a hand-cranked generator.
The idea caught on, and was backed by the US government and President Bill Clinton. The goal was to manufacture a portable low power laptop that could be sold for $100. It was to be sold only to sovereign governments. In the end, it was found that it's not possible to manufacture a laptop computer for $100.
Another of One Laptop per Child's co-founders was Mary Lou Jepsen. She was the brains of the outfit, and designer of the $100 laptop. She invented an LCD display screen that could be viewed in direct sunlight, and used very little power. It was a brilliant design, and was key to making a $100 laptop.
I heard about this new transflective LCD that used practically no power in sun light. This led me to Pixel Qi, a company founded by Mary Lou to manufacture and market her invention. I told them I wanted to convert off-the-shelf laptops to this new display, and sell then to people who needed this capability. So that's how the Clover SunBook was born in late 2010. I ultimately sold about 220 of them at $750 each until the end of 2013. I paid $300 for Toshiba and Samsung Netbooks, and about $150 for the display, and sold the SunBook for $750. The market was pretty small; $750 is a lot more than $300. But for certain applications, it was worth it. I made them in my bedroom here in Laguna Niguel...
I was sure that the Pixel Qi display would be a monster product! The total addressable market is every laptop computer, every smart phone, and every camera in the world!!
Although I made out pretty good, the Pixel Qi never caught on with the big boys. I heard that Apple wouldn't use it because they didn't own the patent, and they wanted a monopoly. I don't know why the others didn't go for it, I just assume that they figured they were doing OK without it, so why increase the expense if the customers don't really care if they can see the screen or not!
Mary Lou went on to do other great things, but I was very shocked that this didn't turn into a multi-billion dollar business!
There are a couple of YouTube videos about the SunBook, and here's a review that is quite complete
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