Corning’s Willow Glass impressed the tech world with its extremely flexibility and slimness when it debuted this past summer. The 2012 debut may have been a tad premature as a new report is saying we could expect consumer products equipped with a Willow Glass to appear in at least three years.
The report is coming from Bloomberg who interviewed Corning Glass Technologies president James Clappi, speaking to him in regards to the Willow Glass. Clappin originally had hoped their Willow Glass would be made available in consumer products this year, but consumer companies have yet to come up with products that would make full use of the screen. (more…)
There’s no question that Corning has had a big impact on mobile devices in recent years with its Gorilla Glass, and it’s hoping for similar success in the years ahead with its new Willow Glass technology. It looks like there’s still a bit of a wait in store before we’ll see products that fully take advantage of the glass’s bendy properties, though. Speaking with Bloomberg, Corning president James Clappin says that products with flexible displays are likely still three years out, adding that it’s now busy making “a lot of effort” to teach what it describes as “very big name” companies how to fully use the product. Clappin did reiterate the company’s earlier that we will see some products using Willow Glass as early as this year, although those will likely take the form of simpler products; he offered a flexible barrier for solar panels and a thin film behind touch panels as some examples.
The frustration with devices like a hypothetical iWatch—or a completely imaginary roll-up tablet (maybe a Vaio or something?)—is that they’re made up of parts, and sometimes those parts don’t exist quite yet. Or, in the case of Corning’s brilliantly flexible Willow glass, they exist, but no one knows quite how to use them yet. More »
Apple‘s much-rumored smartwatch could be the first broadscale implementation of Corning’s flexible Willow Glass, potentially opening the door to an iOS-connected timepiece that wraps its display fully around the wrist. Speculation of an Apple-made Pebble rival resurged over the weekend with chatter that the Cupertino firm was working with Foxconn on a power-efficient companion device to the iPhone, featuring a curved glass screen. Exactly how curved that might be was unclear, but according to the New York Times the flexed wearable could be wrapped entirely about the wearer’s arm.
Corning revealed its Willow Glass technology last June, but the tough, flexible glass has in fact been in development for more than ten years. The material can be just 100 microns thick – making it thin enough to wave in the wind – which also helps with broad viewing angles: that could come in handy if you can only briefly glance askew at your wrist to check, say, on your latest iMessage pings.
Corning Willow Glass overview:
It’s not just the flexibility that makes Willow Glass special, however. The material can also be processed at very high temperatures – up to 500 degrees centigrade, in fact – which makes it suitable for roll-to-roll production. Such systems, where assembly of display components is carried out continuously rather than in individual sheets, would likely be essential for productivity if Apple was to go into mass production for what would likely be an affordable and popular accessory.
Corning Willow Glass roll-to-roll production:
According to the NYT’s sources inside Apple, the smartwatch would “operate on” iOS, though it’s unclear whether that means the digital timepiece would have its own, standalone operating system, or merely act as a conduit for iPhone and iPad notifications. The colloquially-named “iWatch” is expected to use Bluetooth 4.0, the low power iteration of the short-range wireless technology, to connect to a nearby Apple device.
Exactly what it could do with that connection is unclear, though there’s plenty of potential for a discrete, wrist-worn way to access data. Beyond the usual notifications for email, calendar alerts, messaging, and calls, the Bluetooth link could be used to remotely command Siri, Apple’s virtual personal assistant. That would help bypass the presumed absence of a complex touchscreen interface, and address one of the biggest ongoing criticisms with smartwatches in general: that though they allow wearers to check alerts, they usually fall short when it comes to acting on them.
With Siri, however, iWatch users could reply to messages, establish new appointments, search the internet, and get navigation guidance, all by asking for it out loud. Previous rumors have suggested Apple might use a roughly 1.5-inch display – akin to the sixth-gen iPod nano, perhaps, which many buyers wore on their wrist using special third-party watch straps – though how much information would be displayed on-screen and how much would be audibly reported is unclear.
A timescale for Apple’s iWatch launch is still something of a mystery, and both the company and manufacturer Foxconn have declined to comment on the speculation.
Corning announced its quarterly results today, and the company beat Wall Street expectations despite a drop in quarterly earnings, thanks in part to a 14 percent year over year increase in sales. Sales for Q4 2012 topped $2.14 billion, with sales of Corning’s Gorilla Glass, the ultra durable material used in the construction of many smartphones and tablets including Apple’s iPhone and iPad exceeding $1 billion for the year.
Corning said the strength of Gorilla Glass sales helped drive its “Specialty Material” sales up 68 percent when measured year over year, and up 10 percent from the previous quarter. Corning reiterated that this reflects the over 1 billion consumer and IT devices that are now using Gorilla Glass as a key component. Corning is prepping new ways to exploit the success of its Specialty Materials division, including Gorilla Glass 3, which got a very dramatic debut at CES 2013 thanks to some stress testing that showed just how much stronger it is than previous iterations and alternate materials.
Another innovation from Corning is its work making new optical Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 cables that actually deliver on the promise of extremely long cable sizes that suffer no negative effects in terms of throughput speeds for data transfer. The optical cables aren’t powered, but they can do 10 Gbps (up and down, simultaneously) on Thunderbolt, and 5 Gbps for USB 3.0. These will likely be big sellers for professionals and advanced consumers who need to network an office or house but don’t want to the sacrifices in data transfer speeds that Wi-Fi entails.
Corning may face competition down the road from Samsung’s flexible displays, but it’s likely to see its fortunes continue to grow for the foreseeable future as mobile computing continues to trend upwards and more devices come to market.
We’ve just spent some time with Corning, which is showing off the strength of its third-generation Gorilla Glass. The company has tweaked the chemical and atomic composition of the raw materials of the glass, which in turn has increased its density — making it much more scratch and dent resistant than last years model. Interested in seeing just how much stronger it is? Head on past the break for the video.
We all know how expensive cables for our beloved devices can be, especially things like their Thunderbolt cables direct from an Apple Store. Today the folks from Corning announced a brand new sister company called Optical Cables by Corning, and they’ll be delivering longer, more durable and lightweight cables for a low price. More details below.
Now this isn’t anything extremely exciting, and it won’t make your computers USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt port rock faster speeds than usual, but it has a few important things that make them stand out. Just like others from earlier this week, Corning and Optical Cables will be delivering Optical Cable thunderbolt options ranging from up to 100 feet and more.
Most Thunderbolt cables use copper, and that severely limits it in terms of distance and at longer range can cause speed to suffer. As a result Corning and Optical Cables is here to offer a solution. Their cables convert the signal into Optical and their lightweight and extremely durable cables then transfer your files and more with ease to those long distances many need. It’s also extremely durable and can bend, fold, kink, get knots and more without a problem. Transfer speeds will never suffer. Check it out.
Corning has added their durable technology and development into these new cables, and should provide extreme durability and longevity to all Optical Cables. If Thunderbolt ports aren’t your thing at the moment, don’t worry because Corning also has full USB 3.0 options available as well. Corning and Optical Cables states Thunderbolt will be available in lengths of 12ft, 18ft, 10m, 30m, 50m and 100m (last is longest available) while USB 3.0 will come in 5.5m, 10m, 15m and 30m. As fart as pricing is concerned, we aren’t sure at the moment. Corning stated that they’ll be releasing further pricing details soon, as well as their respective retail partners.
Okay, I made that part about gorillas up, but it’s easy to forget the usefulness of Gorilla Glass. A lot of the smartphones and tablet people use everyday are covered in this durable material. That’s one of the reasons that the screen on your phone won’t break if you drop inadvertently. Granted, it won’t protect your phone from any drops, but I’ve been quite happy at how scratch-resistant it is.
And while it’s not actually shatterproof, Gorilla Glass is far more durable than ordinary glass. Now, Corning has revealed that a new version, simply called Gorilla Glass 3. The new glass will be unveiled at CES 2013 and it’s supposed to be even more durable than the previous generation.
There are already many devices covered in Gorilla Glass 2, and I’m hopeful that most of the ones I use next year will be covered in Gorilla Glass 3, assuming that it really does make them less likely to crack and shatter.
[CES 2013] We first heard of Gorilla Glass from Corning some years back, and while it is not shatterproof or could be used to deflect a punch from the Incredible Hulk, Gorilla Glass is said to be far tougher and more rigid than the standard issue display that you find on portable devices such as smartphones, tablets and the like. Well, it seems that Gorilla Glass has received a sequel since then, and at CES 2013, we would be privy to the new generation of super-tough Gorilla Glass that will be formally known as Gorilla Glass 3. How creative, huh? Perhaps all the bananas that the team had eaten during its development had stunted the naming part.
Corning promises “a new glass composition with durability enhancements” which would mean your consumer electronics devices that feature Gorilla Glass 3 will be able to withstand even more abuse than ever before. Well, what is next for Gorilla Glass 4, something that even Wolverine is unable to slice through? [Press Release]
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[CES 2013] We first heard of Gorilla Glass from Corning some years back, and while it is not shatterproof or could be used to deflect a punch from the Incredible Hulk, Gorilla Glass is said to be far tougher and more rigid than the standard issue display that you find on portable devices such as smartphones, tablets and the like. Well, it seems that Gorilla Glass has received a sequel since then, and at CES 2013, we would be privy to the new generation of super-tough Gorilla Glass that will be formally known as Gorilla Glass 3. How creative, huh? Perhaps all the bananas that the team had eaten during its development had stunted the naming part.