Following up on last month’s news of a forthcoming touchscreen, wireless-enabled e-reader from iRex Technologies, Gizmodo has a hands-on review of the device. As previously speculated, the device will connect to Barnes & Nobles e-book store, further cementing B&N’s plans to remain device independent and service the widest set of e-book customers possible. This point isn’t lost on Gizmodo’s John Herrman, who notes:
At launch, it’ll connect with the Barnes and Noble ebook store as well as ebook libraries for awesome free borrowing, a la Sony, and a few other sources, but it’s open to anyone who cares to support iRex’s generously wide format choices. That’s what ebook readers were always meant to be: Devices that just read books, wherever you want to get them.
In what might appear to be a story from the past, Google is partnering with On Demand Books, the makers of the Espresso Book Machine. The Espresso Book Machine does what it says on the tin: it makes books. Feed it a digital file, and in less than five minutes, you can have a “library quality” (I’m somewhat dubious of this claim) book, complete with real dead-tree pages. On Demand Books has now obtained the rights to print books from Google Books’ archive of public domain titles. See for yourself:
While you can’t argue with the ability to print rare, out-of-print books anytime you like, it seems like a move in the wrong direction. And at $100K for the Espresso Book Machine, it’s unclear who will be in a position to purchase the device – after all, any sizeable book seller is already scheming to either build an e-reader of their own, or partner with a device manufacturer.
Am I missing something? Who is the real target market for this device?
Forrester has published a new report titled “The eReader Price Squeeze” examining consumers’ willingness to pay for an e-reader. The results aren’t pretty:
It would appear that an global economic collapse has been enough to quell consumer’s normal gadget-hungry ways.
What we found was that the price points for how most consumers value eReaders is shockingly low–for most segments, between $50 and $99. (Currently, eReaders in the US are priced between $199 for the Sony Pocket Reader and $489 for the Kindle DX.)
Despite the price decreases for devices from Sony, and the addition of new lower-price competitors such as Cool-er, devices are still way too high. Does this mean we can expect to see more price decreases over the next couple of months as retailers prepare to battle for consumers’ Christmas dollars?
In an interesting twist, Sony is working to enable libraries to lend electronic books:
Sony used the launch event at the New York Public Library to highlight some notable new features of its e-book platform. Most notable is the expansion of support for library loans to the Sony Readers. If your local library supports electronic lending, members will be able to download the borrowed books and transfer them to the Reader for 21 days (after which the files expire). Sony is partnering with Overdrive.com to make it easier to search for available books at participating libraries.
The launch of this device also cements Sony’s commitment to the Epub format, an emerging open-standard for e-books that balances multiple device vendors while still enabling DRM schemes to prevent piracy.
This device is clearly targeted at competing with the Kindle DX on the basis of both form factor and wireless capabilities. At $400 ($90 less that the Kindle DX), Amazon could have a fight on its hand. A lot depends on the carrier iRex chooses, as well as their claim the device will “tie-in with one of the large online e-book sellers.”, a move obviously designed to address one of its larger weaknesses: the lack of an online e-book store. Whether this means iRex will partner with Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or another book seller is still open to speculation.
After facing continued competitive pressure from Amazon’s new Kindle devices and a host of other new competitors, Sony has taken the covers off two new devices as previously rumoured: the PRS-300 (a.k.a. the Reader Pocket Edition) and the PRS-600 (a.k.a. the Reader Touch Edition). The PRS-300 provides a compact reader at a reasonable price of $199, whereas the PRS-600 is a larger touchscreen device that costs $299 (again, confirming prior pricing rumors).
The move signals that Sony is serious about competing against Amazon. Not only is it dropping the price of the devices, it’s also dropping the cost of new bestsellers to match Amazon.com’s price point of $9.99. This will undoubtedly worry publishers, as $9.99 seems to rapidly developing into the e-book equivalent of 99-cent MP3s.
Unfortunately, despite continuing the trend of a touchscreen interface pioneered by PRS-700, neither of these two devices feature any wireless capabilities. While this has allowed Sony to move faster into multiple markets by eliminating the need to negotiate with carriers in the each market, the lack of wireless adds friction to the process of purchasing a book: you need to buy the book, download it to your computer, plug in the e-reader, and then transfer the book to e-reader.
Sony has responded to this criticism by stating it intends to introduce a wireless device, but has yet to announce a specific device or timeframe.
The PRS-300 will be available in red, black and silver and has a five inch display with 440MB of internal storage (no expandable memory card slots). The PRS-600 will also be available in the same colors, but will also have a larger six inch touchscreen display, audio output, and MS/SD card compatibility with 440mb of internal storage. No lighting or wireless is mentioned in either of the service manuals, but we are NOT opting that out as a feature at this time until we get some sort of confirmation.
Samsung has lifted the veil on its formerly suavely-named Papyrus device to reveal: the SNE-50K.
Really, Samsung? Come on, what are you doing to me here? It sounds like a military weapon rather than an e-book reader.
The device is small (5-inch screen) and has a few unique features. In particular, the device features not only the ability to read documents, but also hand-writing recognition to allow users to enter information into the device.
And, not to be left out of a trend, the manufacturer is partnering with, Kyobo Bookstore Company, one of South Korea’s larger book stores. Hmm, now where have we seen that strategy before? [via CNet]
In an attempt to quell the outcry over Amazon.com’s deletion of illegal copies of “1984″ from their Kindles, CEO Jeff Bezos has taken to the Kindle discussion forum to offer a brief, if heartfelt, apology:
This is an apology for the way we previously handled illegally sold copies of 1984 and other novels on Kindle. Our “solution” to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we’ve received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission.
With deep apology to our customers,
Jeff Bezos
Founder & CEO
Amazon.com
A nice gesture to be sure, but it still leaves many unresolved issues for customers. How will Amazon handle this type of situation in the future? What about other situations? If an organization wanted to suppress distribution of a book, will Amazon buckle? As the leader in the market, it’s Amazon’s duty and responsibility to tread carefully and answer these questions to the satisfaction of readers, authors, and publishers.
Following up on last month’s news of a forthcoming touchscreen, wireless-enabled e-reader from iRex Technologies, Gizmodo has a hands-on review of the device. As previously speculated, the device will connect to Barnes & Nobles e-book store, further cementing B&N’s plans to remain device independent and service the widest set of e-book customers possible. This point isn’t lost on Gizmodo’s John Herrman, who notes:
In what might appear to be a story from the past, Google is partnering with 
Interead, makers of the Cool-er e-reader device, is arriving a bit late to the Google Books party. The company is 
After facing continued competitive pressure from Amazon’s new Kindle devices and a host of other new competitors, Sony has 
