I'm one of the founders, I exited after the acquisition and now work in VC.
It's absolutely possible, the custom EPD was $40USD, we used injection molder keys, and a delrin keyframe. The remaining components for the display timing controller and the keyboard controller were dollars each at scale (excluding the TCM chip which was relatively expensive).
The entire BOM cost of goods was far under $100, and was comparable to a Macbook butterfly switch keyboard module.
The entire design with Foxconn / it's customers was specifically for MOQ's of 300k units. We did beta units to 40+ countries.
The NRE for the display was also double your estimate and took around 9+ months to get finished + a few months of delays due to terrible yields on the first Mass produced units.
I'm one of the founders. The site crashed due to the traffic, we sold the technology, IP and some of the key talent joined Foxconn late last year; and scaled back our servers during the transition.
I'm a keyboard enthusiast, it started with an IMB model M and that's how the original prototypes started. The feedback regarding adopting Apple design and ergonomics was a reflection that our main strategic partner, investor, and eventually owner was Foxconn, and the customers we engaged with were B2B and set the spec.
For our Macbook projects, it was specifically a Butterfly switch spec we have to match in performance and design. I'd have loved to create a product aligned to what you're referring to, but strategically we have to achieve a MOQ of displays to be economically feasible, and our cooperation with Apple was easier to secure the 300k of displays required than trying to tackle the B2C premium keyboard consumer market.
I'm one of the founders, E Ink displays have their display drivers on their glass substrate, meaning you would have a border that on a single key display would be too significant. We went with one large display with only one driving board for the entirety of the keys. This greatly reduced the unit cost to have one large EPD than 80+ small ones.
And in the process designed a keyboard that is probably a little worse than apple's execution on this ergonomic nightmare. The challenge in this space was to make a real keyboard - sure, that'd involve overcoming the "how do we get the wires from the board through the switch to the keycap", starting with off the shelf switches and caps (because it's okay to not offer people the choice to replace their own keys when you make something like this) because as you say, it would be way harder (and far more costly) to make individual keys be self-contained e-ink units.
I'm one of the founders, the first unit used a prototype EPD from E Ink Holdings, a custom display with around $500k in NRE was developed for a Macbook size keyboard module.
This single large display with a magnetic mechanism operating around the footprint meant the total unit cost in COGS was significantly lower than $100USD at scale.
The entire mechanism was only a few mm in height including the display. The travel and tactile profile was designed to a butterfly switch mechanism spec.
Your keyboard is neat, but I just don't think it's for me. If you've ever looked through menus for some command, you know that it never feels good. Looking down at your keyboard and doing the same visual search would feel just as bad.
If I were spending on keyboard research and development, I'd want a silent design that feels as tactile as buckling spring switches. That would benefit me (and anyone nearby) every time I press a key, which is thousands of time per day. A display on each key? Neat, but that's about it.
I'm one of the Founders at Sonder.
We found from our test units that uses can work up to 30% faster with dynamic keyboards and had strong responses particularly from developers.
The company, the intellectual property and some of the key talent was acquired by Foxconn, the current design is quite polished, as is the user interface.
In regards to the cost point, it's one large display is a magnet mechanism operating within the periphery. This greatly reduced the unit cost and complexity of the design so it was scalable and comparable in price to an existing laptop keyboard module (when supply chain costs and keyboard layout revenue factored in).
Interesting, I've been wondering for years why nobody makes e-ink keyboards. I'm old enough to remember the $1,200 Optimus keyboard that had OLED screens in each key. Everybody wanted one, but then it turned out they were total shit to use. E-ink should have far fewer challenges than oled screens though. Just a bit of feedback: your product page doesn't tell me anything about the hardware design. I would want to know what kind of switches you are using, materials, travel distance, tactility, etc before I would consider buying one. You might want to include some detailed technical specs on another page if you want to attract the hardcore keyboard nerds. While they aren't a large market, they are influencers. I'd also like to see some video of the keyboard being used before I plop down $200 on a preorder.
Sonder Design
Hiring in Sydney Australia, San Francisco and Shenzhen
Www.sonderdesign.com
We have partnered with he world’s largest largest manufacturer Foxconn to create smart laptop keyboards that show any languages or shortcuts to work faster whilst still being tactile.
We are recruiting talented engineers in software, firmware and hardware.
See www.sonderdesign.com/careers for more information.
I'm the founder of Sonder, an E Ink smart keyboard startup; I've written here previously about E Ink when we were published in WSJ regarding Apple.
E Ink is a brilliant display, but the process of manufacturing, cutting the TFT mask etc is expensive; only on mass volumes can displays costs become incredibly cheap (6" E Ink in a kindle is <$10 USD). It's the same for most displays OLED etc in small volumes are expensive; which is why the touchbar solution COGS is over $200 USD.
Therefore E Ink has a high MOQ of a few hundred thousand units, anything below that and you're priced at basically prototype costs which is why a 32" E Ink display is $2k.
Because it's a prototype, we went for existing displays and a 60% was the closest. Besides, you for your a 104 key keyboard and the price just doubled.
The entire design with Foxconn / it's customers was specifically for MOQ's of 300k units. We did beta units to 40+ countries.
The NRE for the display was also double your estimate and took around 9+ months to get finished + a few months of delays due to terrible yields on the first Mass produced units.