Online retail giant Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) has acquired Liquavista NV, a low-power color-screen display unit, from South Korean conglomerate Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (SSNLF), according to media reports on Monday. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Meanwhile, Amazon said that it has launched a new digital currency, Amazon Coins.
The acquisition of Liquavista will enable Amazon to develop new displays for its own mobile devices, including e-readers and tablets. Liquavista focuses on a technology called electrowetting to develop color displays for e-readers and other portable media players.
According to Liquavista, electrowetting technology has the potential to create bright and colorful images that ensure excellent indoor and outdoor readability while using less battery power than traditional displays.
Liquavista claims that its technology is the only solution other than LCD that can operate in three modes - transmissive, reflective and transflective - but with significantly increased optical performance.
The technology can be used in mobile gadgets such as e-readers, smart phones, GPS devices, portable media players and cameras. Over the long term, electrowetting can be used in larger display products such as laptops and TVs, according to Liquavista.
Liquavista was founded in 2006 as a spin-out from Dutch electronics giant Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV (PHG, PHGFF). The company was acquired by Samsung in 2010.
Meanwhile, Amazon said that it has launched its own digital currency, Amazon Coins, on Monday. The digital currency will allow customers to buy apps, games and in-app items in the Amazon app store and on Kindle Fire tablet computers.
To celebrate the launch, Amazon on Monday deposited 500 free coins, worth $5, into the accounts of existing and new Kindle Fire customers in the U.S. The company added that customers can also purchase coins in bulk and receive a discount of up to 10 percent.
Mike George, Vice President of Apps and Games at Amazon said, "Today we are giving Kindle Fire owners $5 worth of Coins to spend on new apps and games, or to purchase in-app items, such as recipes in iCookbook, song collections in SongPop or mighty falcon bundles in Angry Birds Star Wars. And with discounts of up to 10% when you buy Coins, this is a great way for customers to save money when they buy apps, games and in-app items."
Amazon noted that appstore developers will earn their standard 70 percent revenue share when customers make purchases using Amazon Coins.
AMZN closed Monday's trading at $264.51, up $0.88 or 0.33 percent on a volume of 2.15 million shares.
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