What are the commercial applications of the PaperPhone?

Canadian researchers have developed a prototype smartphone that is made of electronic paper. It has the same functionality as conventional smartphones (phones calls / messaging / music etcetera) but it is thin, light and flexible. In fact, when you bend it or fold one of the corners, different functions and featuresare triggered.

"This computer looks, feels and operates like a small sheet of interactive paper," said the creator, Dr Roel Vertegaal in a statement. "You interact with it by bending it into a cell phone, flipping the corner to turn pages, or writing on it with a pen."

The millimetres thick prototype uses the same e-ink technology found in Amazon's Kindle e-book reader. This is bonded to flex sensors and a touchscreen that interprets text and images written onto it.

I'm not sure I agree with Dr Vertegaal's view that "Everything is going to look and feel like this within five years," but it could be a real game-changer. What do you think?