Tag Archives: Active Pen market forecast

Universal Stylus Initiative’s impact on active pen market

September 22, 2016

Today Universal Stylus Initiative (USI) just announced its breakthrough Specification 1.0.

Launched in 2015, Universal Stylus Initiative (USI) is an international not-for-profit technology trade association whose mission is to define industry-wide standards for interoperable communication between an active stylus and touch-enabled devices such as phones, tablets, and computing and entertainment platforms. Currently, it has 34 member companies.

The USI 1.0 Specification defines a standard signaling mechanism and communication protocol between a stylus and a touch-enabled device. Users will be able to use a single USI Stylus across all of their USI-enabled devices and any USI stylus shipped with devices will work with other USI-enabled devices, even those from different manufacturers. This is a breakthrough capability and industry-first enabled by the USI 1.0 Specification.

Touch Display Research had a chance to interview Mr. Pete Mueller, Chairman of USI and Principal Engineer/Senior Technologist at Intel, about the USI spec 1.0. We asked when we can expect to see the first commercially available active pen that is USI compatible. He replied that will be end of 2017 or early 2018, since the OEMs and silicon foundries need at least 1 year after seeing the specification to plan it into their roadmap.

In USI’s press release, it quoted Touch Display Research’s market forecast, “Touch Display Research predicts that active-stylus market revenue will double from nearly $3B in 2016 to almost $6B over the next four years.”

Figure: Active Pen Market forecast to 2021

Source: Active pen technologies, supply chain and market forecast 2016 report, 2^nd edition, Touch Display Research Inc.

More analysis of the USI’s impact on the active pen industry, and over 100 active pen and passive pen companies’ profiles can be found in the “Active pen 2016 report”.

Thirteen types of active pen and eight types passive pen are analyzed in the report. The Active pen 2016 report includes a PowerPoint file of over 270 pages and an Excel database.

You can subscribe on our website: www.touchdisplayresearch.com in the Market Research Report page or contact us by email: jc@touchdisplayresearch.com

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Jennifer Colegrove and team

Myscript announced handwriting app Nebo

August 9, 2016

Today, MyScript, a pioneering market leader in accurate, high-performance handwriting recognition and digital ink management technology, announces the launch of Nebo, a brand new notetaking app that showcases the power of its leading-edge Interactive Ink technology.

Recently, I had a chance to interview my old industry friend, Mr. Gary Baum, VP of Marketing at MyScript. He introduced that the name of the app—Nebo—is the name of the god of writing in Babylonia.

Nebo enables tablet users with active pens to write and edit their handwritten notes in real-time. Now, users can write complex mathematical equations, draw diagrams, sketch pictures and instantly convert to digital form for sharing, searching and storage. All of Nebo’s real-time digitized content – text, diagrams and mathematical equations – is editable with the stylus alone, providing for ease-of-use and productivity gains previously not possible with digital handwriting.

Nebo works on many active pen devices, such as those from Microsoft, or Apple. In the recently published “Active Pen Technologies, Supply Chain and Market Forecast Report (Second Edition),” Touch Display Research Inc., an independent market research and consulting firm, analyzes more than twenty digital pen technologies, which include thirteen active pen technologies and eight passive pen technologies. Touch Display Research forecasts active pen writing module (includes pen sensor, pen and controller IC) revenue will reach $6.1 billion in 2021, from $2.9 billion in 2016.

Figure 1. Active pen module market forecast

Source: Touch Display Research, 2016

The “Active Pen Technologies and Market Forecast 2016 Report” is available immediately and includes a PowerPoint file of over 270 pages and an Excel database.

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Jennifer Colegrove and team

Microsoft keynote about active pen and gesture control at SID 2016

May 26, 2016

At SID 2016 DisplayWeek, Microsoft’s Distinguished Scientist, Mr. Steve Bathiche gave a keynote presentation about the advanced user interface technologies they are working on and his vision for the future.

Steve showed a video of their improvement of the active pen for Surface with less and less latency. Then he said, “Now it feels like real paper; sounds like real paper too!”

Figure: Microsoft’s Steve Bathiche keynote at SID 2016.

Photo by: Touch Display Research

Active pen input is very useful in education, certain language input, medical, finance, industry applications, and content creation. In the recently published “Active Pen 2016 Report (Second Edition),” Touch Display Research Inc., a market research and consulting firm, analyzes more than thirteen active pen technologies. Touch Display Research forecasts active pen writing module (includes pen sensor, pen and controller IC) revenue will reach $6.1 billion in 2021, from $2.9 billion in 2016.

Figure 2. Active pen module market forecast

Source: Touch Display Research, Active pen 2016 report

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Jennifer Colegrove and team

Huawei Active Pen at CES 2016 and Active Pen Market

January 21, 2016

At CES 2016, Huawei booth showcased MediaPad M2 10 inch tablet PC with active pen. The display is 10.1 inch 1920×1080 pixel format. The active pen have 2048 pressure level sensitivity. The pen is branded as Huawei’s pen.

Figure 1. Huawei active pen at CES 2016

Photo by: Dr. Jennifer Colegrove, Jan 2016

The active pen industry landscape has changed dramatically in recent 2 years: The number of companies actively working on active pen technology has increased from 60 companies in 2014 to over 100 companies in 2016.

Touch Display Research defines active pen as a pen with an electronic circuit. Some active pens have an integrated battery in it, and others don’t. A passive pen has neither an electronic circuit nor a battery. In the recently published “Active Pen Technologies, Supply Chain and Market Forecast Report (Second Edition),” Touch Display Research Inc., analyzed more than twenty digital pen technologies, which include thirteen active pen technologies and eight passive pen technologies.

Figure 2: Active pen and passive pen summary and comparison (Full table is in the excel database)

Source: Touch Display Research, Active pen technologies supply chain and market forecast 2016 report.

Digital pen input is very useful in education, certain language input, medical, finance, industry applications, and content creation. Active pen technology is superior to passive in terms of accuracy, pressure sensing, and input of fine line. We forecast that active pen usage will have rapid growth in the next several years.

More analysis of CES 2016 active pen exhibitions and active pen market forecast can be found in the “Active Pen Technologies, Supply Chain and Market Forecast 2016 Report”. You can subscribe on our website: www.touchdisplayresearch.com in the Market Research report page or by email: jc@touchdisplayresearch.com

Thanks for reading,

Jennifer and team

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About Touch Display Research Inc.

Touch Display Research, Inc.(www.TouchDisplayResearch.com) is an independent technology market research and consulting firm specializing in touch screen and emerging display technologies such as OLED displays, OLED lighting, flexible displays, e-paper displays, ITO-replacement, Active pen, 3D displays, near-eye displays, pocket projectors, quantum dots, gesture controls, voice controls, and eye controls. Touch Display Research provides standard reports, consulting projects, and due diligence for touch suppliers, display manufacturers, consumer electronics ODMs/OEMs, material suppliers, investor companies, venture capitalists, and companies who are merging or acquiring companies in the touch screen, display, and materials industry. We are member of Flextech Alliance and SID.

MyScript Digital Writing Conference and active pen market

October 19, 2015

Today I had a chance to attend the MyScript’s Digital Writing Conference at Marriott, Santa Clara, California. It’s a very nice conference with about 200 attendees. MyScript CEO Paddy Padmanabhan joked that “If we host this conference in 1998, there would probably be 4 attendees. I’m glad today we have such a big crowd.”

Figure: MyScript CEO Paddy Padmanabhan gave welcome speech

Photo by: Touch Display Research, Dr. Jennifer Colegrove

My old industry friend, Mr. Gary Baum, VP of Marketing at MyScript introduced MyScript’s interactive ink management framework. He indicated, “With this next generation ink management technology, MyScript is dramatically improving the user experience, revealing the potential Power of Ink. Your handwriting, whether it is TEXT, MATH or DIAGRAM is instantly available as a formatted digital document.”

Figure: MyScript VP, Mr. Gary Baum, presenting

Photo by: Touch Display Research, Dr. Jennifer Colegrove

At this conference, my Intel alumni and president of USI (Universal Stylus Initiative), Mr. Pete Mueller introduced USI and its work on active pen.

Figure: USI president, Mr. Pete Mueller presenting

Photo by: Touch Display Research, Dr. Jennifer Colegrove

In the Active Pen Technologies, Supply Chain and Market Forecast report, Touch Display Research forecasts that the market for active-pen writing modules (including pen sensor, one pen, and the controller IC) will increase from $931 million in 2014 to $4.17 billion in 2020.

Figure 3. Active pen market forecast to 2020

Source: Touch Display Research, Active Pen Technologies, Supply Chain and Market Forecast Report, 2014

More analysis of the Digital Writing Conference can be found in the “Touch and Emerging Display” monthly report.

Thanks for reading,

Jennifer and team

Apple Pencil and Active Pen Market Forecast

September 9, 2015

Today Apple announced its new iPad Pro with an active pen, which Apple branded it as “Apple Pencil”.

Figure 1: Apple pencil announcement

Photo by: Techcrunch.

One year ago, in Touch Display Research article published in SID Information Display Journal July/Aug 2014 issue, Dr. Jennifer Colegrove wrote, “In 2007, when Apple released the first iPhone with a projected-capacitive touch screen, it had the benefit of multi-touch, zero-force touch, good durability, etc. Referring to the first iPhone at the Macworld Expo in 2007, Steve Jobs told his audience, “Nobody wants a stylus. So let’s not use a stylus. We’re going to use the best pointing device in the world. We’re going to use a pointing device that we’re all born with – born with 10 of them. We’re going to use our fingers.” Job’s point of reference for this statement was the old resistive touch pen. Since 2011, Apple has been investing heavily in active pens, and it’s my strong belief that Apple will release an active pen soon.”

Now, 14 months later, our forecast becomes reality.

While finger touch is intuitive, active-pen writing is accurate, easier, and can add a personal touch. Pen input is very useful in education and in certain types of language input, as well as in medical, financial, industrial, and content creation or markup applications. Touch Display Research defines an active pen as one with an electronic circuit. Some active pens have an integrated battery in them, some not. A passive pen has neither an electronic circuit nor a battery. According to our research, there are nine types of active-pen technologies and six passive-pen technologies, as summarized in figure here.

Figure 2: Active pens and passive pens are compared in terms of technologies, pen tips, batteries, and sensing interfaces.

Source: Touch Display Research, Active pen technologies, supply chain and market forecast 2014 report.

Active-pen technology is superior to passive-pen technology in terms of accuracy, pressure sensing, and ability to draw fine lines. Active-pen usage should therefore experience rapid growth in the next several years. In the Active Pen Technologies, Supply Chain and Market Forecast report, Touch Display Research forecasts that the market for active-pen writing modules (including pen sensor, one pen, and the controller IC) will increase from $931 million in 2014 to $4.17 billion in 2020.

Figure 3. Active pen market forecast to 2020

Source: Touch Display Research, Active Pen Technologies, Supply Chain and Market Forecast Report, 2014

Thanks for reading,

Jennifer and team

Microsoft acquired part of N-trig for the pen

May 7, 2015

Recently, Microsoft acquired part of N-trig. Mr. Stevie Bathiche, Microsoft Surface Distinguished Scientist wrote in Microsoft’s blog: “Today we are excited to have acquired advanced digital pen technology from N-trig Ltd., with whom we’ve partnered closely for several years.”

As we know, N-trig was founded in 1999 with headquarter in Israel. N-trig has received over $120 million funding before. Their old investors include Microsoft. Microsoft hasn’t announce the amount regarding this acquisition yet. Rumors hold Microsoft paid about $200 million to acquire the pen-related part asset of N-trig.

Touch Display Research believe active-pen technology is superior to passive-pen technology in terms of accuracy, pressure sensing, and ability to draw fine lines. In the Active Pen report, Touch Display Research forecasted that the market for active-pen writing modules (including pen sensor, one pen, and the controller IC) will increase from $931 million in 2014 to $4.17 billion in 2020.

Figure. Active pen market forecast to 2020.

Source: Touch Display Research, Active Pen 2014 report.

Touch Display Research believes this is a good move for Microsoft. More analysis about Microsoft, N-trig and Apple can be found in the Touch and Emerging Display monthly report, May issue.

Thanks for reading,

Jennifer and team