Digital paper looks and feels like traditional paper, even if you can’t wrap fish in it. On the other hand, the "ink" in digital paper can’t stain your hands. The technology also promises to save trees, reduce the amount of wastepaper that clogs landfills and make reading more convenient.

Digital paper is arriving in the form of thin plastic sheets that display high-resolution text and graphic images. "The medium offers the prime attributes of paper?portability, physical flexibility and high contrast?while also being reusable," says Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, a Campbell, Calif.-based technology research company. Like other digital paper proponents, Bajarin believes the technology has the potential to become a popular display medium for publishing, signs and mobile devices. "The technology will supplement or, for many applications, even replace paper and liquid crystal panels," he says.

Digital paper’s future currently lies in the research labs of two companies: Gyricon Media and E Ink. "The race is on to develop a practical digital paper technology," says Bajarin. "The company that creates a digital paper that most closely resembles real paper in terms of size, flexibility, resolution, contrast and cost stands to reap enormous gains."

Yet as digital paper inches closer to reality, some wonder if it’s an innovation that people really need?or want. Amy Wohl, president of Wohl Associates, a Narberth, Pa.-based technology research company, says past predictions that technology would eliminate the need for physical documents have proved to be wrong. "Who’s to say if they will be right this time?" asks Wohl, who also wonders if digital paper will really be as sharp, flexible and portable as its advocates promise. "It’s rare indeed for any technology to immediately live up to its advance hype," she says. "With digital paper, anything less than full print quality and convenience would be a disappointment."

Practical Paper

Developing practical digital paper requires finding a way to mimic the output of a liquid crystal display (LCD) but without the need for a thick plastic case and backlight. E Ink, a startup in Cambridge, Mass., is working on a technology that uses a liquid filled with millions of tiny microcapsules. Each microcapsule contains white particles suspended in a dark dye. When subjected to an electric field, the white particles move to one end of the microcapsule where they become visible, making the digital paper surface appear white at that spot. An opposite electric field pulls the particles to the other end of the microcapsules where they are hidden by the dye, making the surface appear dark. "We’re using the same basic substance people write with?ink," says Russ Wilcox, E Ink’s vice president and general manager. "But instead of drying, it remains liquid."