I suspect the answer to "will people pay ~$100 for a washed out colour photo frame that is slightly less inconvenient than normal LCD digital photo frames" is "no", but you're welcome to try.
I used to work for a consultancy that did hardware product prototyping as a design service. We were good and very wide ranging but not at all cheap. The cheap DIY end is probably covered by the maker/hackerspace/arduino/rasberrypi movement which has evolved from the older ham/model railway ecosystem.
Another wrinkle is that if you want to sell electronic goods you need to consider FCC/CE/UL certifications, and there is no minimum quantity for the rules to apply. That increases the cost of the MVP greatly.
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E-ink parts are a hassle to obtain in small quantities; colour even more so. And the colour tech isn't great: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/05/the-once-bright-future-of...
I suspect the answer to "will people pay ~$100 for a washed out colour photo frame that is slightly less inconvenient than normal LCD digital photo frames" is "no", but you're welcome to try.
I used to work for a consultancy that did hardware product prototyping as a design service. We were good and very wide ranging but not at all cheap. The cheap DIY end is probably covered by the maker/hackerspace/arduino/rasberrypi movement which has evolved from the older ham/model railway ecosystem.
Another wrinkle is that if you want to sell electronic goods you need to consider FCC/CE/UL certifications, and there is no minimum quantity for the rules to apply. That increases the cost of the MVP greatly.