Call it luck, chance or just a sign of the times – but the fate of British hi-tech companies at the moment seems to be up and down more often than West Bromwich Albion. For every ARM – boosted by iPhone sales, there's a host of companies struggling to make ends meet, and people losing their jobs.
For a close-up view of the highs and lows, just take a look at the small electronic ink industry, where two British companies are currently looking at very disparate fortunes.
Southampton's Polymer Vision, which had developed flexible e-ink screens that garnered a rave reception earlier this year, has gone into administration with the loss of 50 jobs.
Meanwhile Plastic Logic, a company spun out from Cambridge University, has received a boost from a deal with US bookseller Barnes & Noble, which has announced plans to start selling a rival to Amazon's Kindle (with wireless connectivity to be provided by telecoms giant AT&T).
Despite their similar offering, the two companies couldn't be further apart. Why? What is the difference? And – if anything - what can British entrepreneurs learn from those who have gone before them?
