Hello,

Are there any indications that e-book readers will ever get below US$200 and thus actually reach the impulse purchase area for the average consumer ?

Hello,

Are there any indications that e-book readers will ever get below US$200 and thus actually reach the impulse purchase area for the average consumer ?
If you purchase a Sony Reader NOW, you can get it for $299 + a free $50 cradle and a free $50 books credit at the Sony Connect store. So all in all, it's pretty cheap considering.

Oh, I think they'll eventually get in the sub-$200 range, but it'll be a few more years, at least. :shrug:

If you are willing to give up the beauty of reading on an e-ink device, the eBookwise is below $200 now. It is a low contrast LCD screen in half VGA mode. As NatCh said, given time and good sales even e-ink can get there in a few years. (The only "expensive" part is the e-ink display screen.)

Many people very happily read eBooks on Pocket PC and Palm devices - I did so myself for many years before the new eInk devices appeared. PPCs/Palms are available at extremely reasonable prices; one doesn't need an especially "high spec" device for reading, although getting a machine with as high a resolution a screen as possible will make the reading experience better.

I have to say that the "uBook" reader on the Pocket PC is still far and away my favourite book-reading software, even though I do now use a Sony Reader myself.

Oh, I think they'll eventually get in the sub-$200 range, but it'll be a few more years, at least. :shrug:

I doubt the readers would go sub200. I think it will hang around 200-250 tops, if it becomes more popular.
Older models will just be discontinued.

Take a look at PDAs. I paid big bucks for my PDA back then, but now the cheapest model is still around 250 dollar. Sure, you'll get my old PDA for like 5 bucks at ebay or something, but you won't get it in a store.

Most of the cost of these things is the e-ink screen. Assuming that enough of the stuff gets made and sold that the cost of development is recovered, and economies of scale kick in, then, yeah, I see the prices of even the front-line devices dropping a lot closer to the $200 mark (perhaps lower if it gets really cheap to make). The ones below $200 will be the down-revved models (previous generation, I mean), but they'll be at least as good as what we have now. :nice:

In any case, we're talking several years.

Take a look at PDAs. I paid big bucks for my PDA back then, but now the cheapest model is still around 250 dollar. Sure, you'll get my old PDA for like 5 bucks at ebay or something, but you won't get it in a store.I paid ~$430 for my Pilot 5000 back in March of '96, so I konw what you're saying. :wink:

However, I think you may be forgetting the Palm E2 (http://www.palm.com/us/products/handhelds/e2/index.html) (MSPR $199) and Z22 (http://www.palm.com/us/products/handhelds/z22/index.html) (MSRP $99). They're both a good deal more capable than my venerable Pilot 5000 was. :shrug:

If you look on eBay you'll find a huge range of Pocket PC and Palm machines for sub-$200.

If you look on eBay you'll find a huge range of Pocket PC and Palm machines for sub-$200.

we're talking about new (non-secondhand) models you can buy with normal warranty.

Most of the cost of these things is the e-ink screen. Assuming that enough of the stuff gets made and sold that the cost of development is recovered, and economies of scale kick in, then, yeah, I see the prices of even the front-line devices dropping a lot closer to the $200 mark (perhaps lower if it gets really cheap to make). The ones below $200 will be the down-revved models (previous generation, I mean), but they'll be at least as good as what we have now. :nice:

In any case, we're talking several years.




Even if they e-ink technology drops it's prices, i doubt that an ebookreader with the quality of the Sony Reader will be lower than 200 dollar. There is a price to pay for development, marketing and packaging.

It is of course possible that there will be super lowbudget "readers" coming. With minimal features. Probably no more ultramobile size, brushed metal, builtin lithiumion-batteries, sounds, memorycardslot, etc.
Those could certainly be lower than 100 dollar, will you buy one of those? It's not something that's meant for us, the early adapters.

We require a certain degree of quality. Just like the MP3-players you can buy for 10 bucks, I've only bought one because I was on holiday and didn't want to bring my normal mp3-player with me. I gave that one away when I got home.

They're more for the common public.

Would you still buy a black and white TV nowadays?

Would you still buy a black and white TV nowadays?People do. :cheesy:

I might do so, for some specific, specialized purpose, but the way you meant the question, no. No I wouldn't. :wink:

You may well be right on what you're saying about the feature set on such a low-priced device, but if you look at the $99 Z22 as an example, and compare its feature set to the original Palm 5000 (which was better than four times the price at the time), I think you'll agree that the Z22 pretty much flattens the original P-5000. :shrug:

Features tend to get cheaper the longer they're available. Power locks used to add thousands of dollars to a car's price, now they're a few hundred, I could list supporting examples for this for a long, long time before I ran out of them. :grin:

So, that being said, yeah, I do see something with the feature set of the current Sony Reader, with a nice chassis (if not, perhaps, quite as fine as the one that the Reader has) eventually being offered for under $200. In fact, there will probably eventually be devices with the iLiad's feature set, probably even better, for that low a price.

It's a market pressure thing, if things behave the way they pretty much always behave, there will be really high-dollar, high-end versions, and versions that are lower end for lower prices, and the feature sets of the entire range of devices will continue to improve. That is, of course, until something upsets the entire dynamic, of course. :shrug:

The prices of the bottom end of the range will be determined by how cheaply the hardware con be gotten and assembled, Aside from the e-ink, the rest of it has an estimated cost (by folks who ought to know what such parts can be had for) below $50. If the e-ink panel were to drop to a point that it only accounted for, say, $50 (it's somewhere around $150~$200 for a 6" one, near as we can puzzle out), then you've got a base hardware cost of only $100 (one-half to one-third the present one), then it's only a matter of how cheaply it could be put together, and shipped out, and they're always dialing those processes in as tightly as they can. :)

Bear in mind that I'm talking about years worth of time -- the first Zire came out for $99 about 8 years after the P-5000, for instance, so I think that in 10 years or so, we might well see such a low price for this level of device.


Disclaimer: all of this is my own opinion (not an attempt to make authoritative predictions about future events) and, while based on observed past events, is still a product of complex chemical reactions that may exist only in my brain. :mad:

we're talking about new (non-secondhand) models you can buy with normal warranty.

Don't forget that those of us - and there are many - who buy eInk readers outside their official country of distribution are, in effect, buying them without a warranty. Eg Sony UK won't touch my Reader if it goes wrong because it's not a product which is either sold or supported in the UK.

Of course I appreciate that the thread is primarily talking about new machines, but I was just pointing out that entry into the eBook reading world need not necessarily cost a fortune; cheap "obsolete" 2nd-hand hand-held devices can make excellent and very low-cost book readers.

Don't forget that those of us - and there are many - who buy eInk readers outside their official country of distribution are, in effect, buying them without a warranty. Eg Sony UK won't touch my Reader if it goes wrong because it's not a product which is either sold or supported in the UK.

Of course I appreciate that the thread is primarily talking about new machines, but I was just pointing out that entry into the eBook reading world need not necessarily cost a fortune; cheap "obsolete" 2nd-hand hand-held devices can make excellent and very low-cost book readers.

The problem is, when you take 2nd hand stuff into account, then it's impossible to set a correct price tag. Because an "Ebook reader" could then range from -100 to 1000 dollars...

Because the Eink screen is a low-power device it is suitable for advertising, where other display types are not. If the demand for this type of advertising display becomes great enough, the cost of EPD screens will drop below that of LCD and other types of screens that draw more power.

There are microcontrollers available that are very inexpensive and contain the various controllers (USB, display, bluetooth, etc.) so that the manufacturing cost of a reader need not be very high. The non-recurring development expenses of a reader will get lower each year as more open-source efforts are bent toward making reader functionality available on free operating systems.

You can buy a pocket calculator for about five bucks at discount stores. You can get pocket organizers very cheaply too. I can see the day when bookstores will sell blister pack readers alongside a browsable display of ebooks. Buy 12 books and get a reader free!

I can see the day when bookstores will sell blister pack readers alongside a browsable display of ebooks. Buy 12 books and get a reader free!I agree it's possible, but I think those readers definitely won't have the high-quality chassis of the Sony Readers! :smile:

No, they won't have quality cases. The cover will be thick colorful paper with attractive graphics. On the back you will see a summary of the book. Open the cover and the title page will be displayed. Press the forward button and you will see the beginning of the first chapter. Finish the book and you can take it to a used-book store for one quarter credit. Or throw it away . . .

as RWood said ,the only expensive part is the E-ink display screen .it need for a time to get below $200.
but if we only want to own the paperlike displaying device ,how about M218A?it's display technology is all new Japenese TFT technology.i find the effect is good too.

sony readers have gone on sale for 100 dollars......

China will flip the market on its back in no time, as they always do.

As mogui has suggested for a good while now, when eink is used for advertizing or price display, the costs of production will plummet rapidly. This trend will follow every electronic device type. Today's manufacturers are profiteering on novelty and they are doing well to do so. They had the guts to go out and make something new that went against the ingrained Holy paper book. Kudos to them.

Spartman in his observaqtion suggests that maybe the actual retailer pays less than 100$ for the device he sells us!?! He is probably right. I still remember and will all my life with anger and resentment that the 600$ printer I bought in 1987 actually cost 35$ to produce! I was earning 8$ an hour then.

New markets do not last as long as they used to. In less than two years we will see ebook readers fall way below 100$.

Features tend to get cheaper the longer they're available. Power locks used to add thousands of dollars to a car's price, now they're a few hundred, I could list supporting examples for this for a long, long time before I ran out of them. :mad:
I bought a new car here the other day. Mine is silver.
http://www.weblogsinc.com/common/images/5451357479280992.JPG
Maybe I paid just for the power door locks? It came to 36,800 yuan, plus road tax and insurance. That translates to US$4,853.92.

Now this car has a nice fit and finish, a five-speed transmission, radio-tape player, air conditioning, airbags and power door locks and windows that lock up nicely when I press the little button on the key.
4374
So if Chery motors can produce a peppy little auto like this (very reminiscent of my Suzuki Swift I had in the US) for the price of a high-end laptop, maybe a savvy Chinese electronics firm can whip something together in a plastic case, with a low-cost screen and have us all reading happily for just lunch money.

If we don't wait for cheap EP displays, it can happen soon. If we really want Eink, we can wait until the price of EP displays comes way down, because it will.

In other posts here I mentioned the MP4 player I used as a reader (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9162). My cost was about US$50! With a few firmware changes (a non-recurring development expense), it would be a passable reader. Trade the music circuitry for a slightly larger display and we have -- the Kindle? Or maybe the uKindle.

And let us not forget the eBookwise-1150 (http://www.ebookwise.com/ebookwise/ebookwise1150.htm). The base model is going for US$110 plus shipping. People say it is a good eReader (http://www.webstead.org/eb1150/index.html). What are the production costs? I would guess about one third of retail -- or less. Filament Books (http://www.filamentbooks.com/ebcontent/devices/1150_monthly.asp) will give you one for free, if only you join their book club for a year!
http://www.ebookwise.com/eBookwise/graphics/ewReader60px_noMem.gif
A company like Amazon would be very smart to sponsor the development of a rock-bottom device and run something like Mobipocket on it. If you saw a blister pack in Barnes and Noble that offered an eReader and two popular eBooks, and it was priced at the normal cost of the two hardcover novels alone, would you jump at it?

Great googley-moogley, we're almost there! :mad:

sony readers have gone on sale for 100 dollars......

Only as a "one day only" promotional gimick. That doesn't mean that anyone can afford to sell them as a profitable commercial concern at the price.

I bought a new car here the other day. Mine is silver.
http://www.weblogsinc.com/common/images/5451357479280992.JPG
Maybe I paid just for the power door locks? It came to 36,800 yuan, plus road tax and insurance. That translates to US$4,853.92.


That is an incredible price!

It'd probably cost $10k to import it to the U.S. though. :grin:

Only as a "one day only" promotional gimick. That doesn't mean that anyone can afford to sell them as a profitable commercial concern at the price.
And don't forget for US Residents the Credit card offer as well for about $50.

It'd probably cost $10k to import it to the U.S. though. :grin:
Somebody plans (http://paultan.org/archives/2006/07/02/chery-qq-coming-to-town-this-month/) to do just that, though they might have to arm-wrestle Chevy over it. They will bring other Chery autos (http://paultan.org/archives/2005/09/22/visionary-vehicles-to-bring-chery-to-usa/) over too. US News (http://www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/articles/040621/21china.htm) give us news too. There are opinion (http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/163914/tp/1/)s crafted by non-newshounds. Golly gee Vern!

We all like to see technology become cheaper. But I am a little bummed because the scifi writers and Popular mechanics magazine promised me that "soon" robotics would make everything so cheap that we wouldn't have to work at all. I waited and I waited. Finally I just retired. :(

But getting back to eReaders -- ETI (http://www.ebooktechnologies.com/devices.htm) makes the eBw-1150 as well as the ETI-2 sold by Filament Books (see above). It is a good design with a touchscreen and stylus, and they have another model too. See this thread (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6243). Filament has a lot of good info on their website. Take a tour (http://www.filamentbooks.com/ebcontent/devices/1150_tour.asp#side). See the Quick Start Guide (http://www.filamentbooks.com/ebcontent/supt/downloads/QuickStartGuidevFilamentv5F.pdf). The User's Manual (http://www.filamentbooks.com/ebcontent/supt/1150usersguidesec3.asp) tells how to buy eBooks over the phone line. For US$200 you get the reader and 24 eBooks over a one year period. Deal time?

One really interesting feature of the eBw is that it can connect to the server via the phone line. It is not clear that this can eliminate the PC entirely, but it suggests a great way to market eBooks. Filament says you can buy eBooks over the phone line sans PC. Send the user a mailer about once a month. Ads would describe new eBooks and list current stock as well. The user merely connects to the phone line and inputs the eBook designations on the reader. The eBooks are downloaded to the reader and the credit card is charged automatically. No PC!

Theoretically this method would work all over the world -- no VAT or other taxes!

This technology would be perfect for those of us who like to read but are not computer savvy, or who do not wish to invest in a lot of equipment. Literally thousands of non-technophile customers could use this method. This would greatly expand the market.

So the cheap reader is here today. ETI sounds like a company that will deal. A startup that wanted to get into the eBook market could probably get ETI to customize their firmware for a sufficiently large order. Maybe this is what Filament has done. Wish them well!

Would a walk-in bookstore get into this business? Maybe eBook buyers wouldn't come into the store to browse. But they would become the Monkey Wards of eBooks! It is a vast market.

In china ,the ebook market is booming .Now a lot ebook products cost about $40-200$,i think it will get cheaper and cheaper.Great,the ebook' future is very bright!

In china ,the ebook market is booming .Now a lot ebook products cost about $40-200$,i think it will get cheaper and cheaper.Great,the ebook' future is very bright!

Hmm. I am in China and I don't see eBooks for sale. I am able to read text files on translators and MP4 players, but I have not seen an eBook reader for sale.

Can you provide any links? (Thanks in advance)

In china ,the ebook market is booming .Now a lot ebook products cost about $40-200$,i think it will get cheaper and cheaper.Great,the ebook' future is very bright!

Which eBook devices did you see for less then 200$ in China (And where?!)

Thanks

Can you provide any links?
Take a look here -
http://www.globalsources.com/manufacturers/factories/IT-Ebook/0.html
it seams that in China only light bulbs can not work as e-book readers:))

I see e-ink readers becoming cheap if they are loss-leaders for an ebook company. For example, I can see Amazon selling a $100 E-Reader. It will be locked down, and you can only read content purchased from Amazon. It's not very different than the wireless phone companies.

As for the Chinese car... see what happens when you have to bring it up to American safety specifications. That adds quite a bit to the cost.

I see e-ink readers becoming cheap if they are loss-leaders for an ebook company. For example, I can see Amazon selling a $100 E-Reader. It will be locked down, and you can only read content purchased from Amazon. It's not very different than the wireless phone companies.

As for the Chinese car... see what happens when you have to bring it up to American safety specifications. That adds quite a bit to the cost.

Is the Amazon's eBook based on EInk ?
How long do you think it will take till someone hack it ?
Its the mouse and the cat thing...

I was just using Amazon as an example - and using a fictitious reader.

As for the Kindle, it remains to be seen what the final price would be. It is an e-ink device, though.

The key for a cheap e-ink device is to have it locked down. Of course this is easier said than done, which might be why we haven't seen any such loss-leaders yet.

The key for a cheap e-ink device is to have it locked down.Do you mean locked into a subscription model, so that a hardware subsidy can lower the initial price?

If not then I'm not sure I'm following your thinking. :shrug:

Do you mean locked into a subscription model, so that a hardware subsidy can lower the initial price?Yes, that's what I mean.

Yes, that's what I mean.

Tried and failed repeatedly (gemstar, librie); no chance of acceptance by the public

Thanks stasys. great link!

Now there is a car from India (http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/cars/indian-company-releasing-2400-car-the-worlds-cheapest-291501.php) that is plastic and has a 30 horse engine. It is US$2400. I haven't heard of any export plans. I have heard that China's emissions standards are among the most stringent in the world for new cars. Maybe they don't need modifications to be imported to western countries. As for safety, there are crash test data available. The QQ, for example, is a copy of the Chevy Spark, and does what the Chevy does. Crash safety is usually not an issue where I live because everyone is driving at 20 kph watching to see what the other drivers are going to do next. If you have never seen traffic here it is much like everyone is just driving anywhich direction in an open field. The reason they paint lines on the road and put up those pretty traffic lights is to give people jobs :)

I still think that Amazon could make a go of it. They've got the market share.

And sorry to make this thread meta, but at least some Chinese cars have "issues" with crash tests:
http://tinyurl.com/yod5j8

Say mogui! I saw you Chinese made car on autoblog green (http://www.autobloggreen.com/) This is a great site dedicated to greener vehicles. I like it most for the podcasts.
Pity you can't find most of them on the market, I'd go for an electric myself.

My daughter has a Prius. I drove it around the western US this spring. It is a great car with many high-tech features. I really like the Mercedes Smart Car too. The Chinese are cloning it (http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/10/smart_la_chinoi.html), but Chrysler appears willing to fight them on it.
Say mogui! I saw you Chinese made car on autoblog green (http://www.autobloggreen.com/) This is a great site dedicated to greener vehicles. I like it most for the podcasts.
Pity you can't find most of them on the market, I'd go for an electric myself.
We sure can hijack a thread, can't we? :)

Seems more like a carjacking, actually. :wink:

Seems more like a carjacking, actually. :wink:
Actually with cars this small, it is probably a CrackerJacking! :)

Hey, news are slow and DRM is as prevalent and boring as always, why can't we have a little fun once in a while!

BTW The Smart car is available and popular in Québec. It's been sold here by Mercedes for five years now but it's pricey. I like the mocrodiesel but it would be even better if it were fed on biodiesel. You see quite a lot of them on the roads. They're not that good in snow because the wheel base is different from rear to front. They had an electric model years ago when the company was French, I think there is one still in Switzerland...

Tried and failed repeatedly (gemstar, librie); no chance of acceptance by the public
No chance for books, but there might be a chance with newspapers. 365 days of The New York Times runs almost 700 bucks. I'd think that some expensive deals like that could work with a reading device mode, where the savings in postage and paper could subsidize the device, as long as it's not too limited.

My daughter has a Prius. I drove it around the western US this spring. It is a great car with many high-tech features. I really like the Mercedes Smart Car too. The Chinese are cloning it (http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/10/smart_la_chinoi.html), but Chrysler appears willing to fight them on it.

We sure can hijack a thread, can't we? :)

A friend of mine has Prius and he gave me a ride a few times. I don't understand much about cars but it was very impressive considering all the features it has and low petrol consumption.

My daughter and I drove a Smart Car in Vancouver a couple of years ago. She wanted one, but ended up with the Prius. I think the Chinese "City Smart" clone of the Smart Car is available in electric. I saw one here recently and there is a dealer in town. The rock-bottom price is less than 30,000 RMB -- three quarters the price of the QQ. The manufacturers want to sell it in Europe. I think it is great that there are 3rd world forces bringing down the cost of cars after the Japanese led the big raise in prices in the 80s. I know the cheap goods from Asia cause some of you difficulty. I hope things even out for everyone.

In 2000 in Montreal there was an EV Symposium. They had the good sense of renting the Gilles Villeneuve race track where 8 electric cars were offered anyone(with driving permit) to try. I drove 4 models. Complete and utter revelation! I saw the future right there! The silence, the performance... what a delight! And still today, there is no way to find a commercially made, legally street worthy electric car in America!

In the early 80s, HM Vehicles in Burnsville Minnesota built a 3-wheeled car called the Freeway. It came in gas and electric models. I was on the waiting list for a new one when they suddenly went out of business. Years later I picked one up -- a perfect specimen. It was a 1981 gas model and was in great condition. I had a chance to drive an electric one back in the day too. They were pretty peppy.
5064 5065 5066
I flew out to Chicago to buy the Freeway and tried to drive it home to Washington State. I got as far as Milwaukee and decided it was too much of a go-cart to take across the Rocky Mountains. I loaded into a U-Haul and trucked it home. It was the icon for our 4-H car washes for a few years and it rode in a few parades.

It looks like the Sparrow, an EV from California.

And still today, there is no way to find a commercially made, legally street worthy electric car in America!I know of one: http://www.teslamotors.com/buy/buyPage1.php :grin:

I know of one: http://www.teslamotors.com/buy/buyPage1.php :grin:

The Tesla is a fine prototype, still. Its début was slated for next year and already major design problems have changed the date. According to the reporters of autoblog green, in their podcast, it is said that there will be changes at the company's helm. We all know that a small company's strength is usually provided by the creator. All said the Tesla is still uncertain at this point in time. But oh! what a racer that would be!

This Cnet article (http://news.com.com/2300-11389_3-6205455.html?tag=ne.gall.latest) is a survey of available electric cars called, "Electric vehicles you can buy right now". Photos included. Enjoy!
http://i.n.com.com/i/ne/p/2007/ZAP-Xebra-car_491x486.jpg
BTW there was mention of electric cars earlier in this thread.

This Cnet article (http://news.com.com/2300-11389_3-6205455.html?tag=ne.gall.latest) is a survey of available electric cars called, "Electric vehicles you can buy right now". Photos included. Enjoy!
http://i.n.com.com/i/ne/p/2007/ZAP-Xebra-car_491x486.jpg
BTW there was mention of electric cars earlier in this thread.

Looks like a mouse with zebra stribes to me ;)

Their availability is just like the Sony reader's. One country. For the cars, it's impossible to certify them here. The petrol lobby is too strong. Every attempt so far has been doomed.

Back to readers..I dont if something couldnt actually succeed on a subscription model once the tech matures in such a way that they use them kind of like cell phones.

Give the reader for free on a commitment to buy 15 books within the year or something. Then you keep the reader and keep paying. Make it NOT running linux so it isnt very hackable..only capable of playing your format etc. Just like a cell phone, but for books.

Sounds draconian, but if I was offered a free iliad quality device(with proper battery life, i would never put up with a measly 11 hours, i'd burn thru that in a weekend) and the books were as cheap or cheaper (cheaper!) than paper books, i would certainly consider it, just like I buy my cellphone for so cheap on a contract without a problem.

Give the reader for free on a commitment to buy 15 books within the year or something.
Filament Book Club uses this model with the ETI-2 (http://www.filamentbooks.com/ebcontent/devices/1150_monthly.asp) (the same unit eBookwise sells outright) and it works well enough that they've been in business for a while. I don't think Filament is as big as eBookwise, but some people do sign up for their purchasing model.

Hello,

Are there any indications that e-book readers will ever get below US$200 and thus actually reach the impulse purchase area for the average consumer ?

i got my sony reader for 58 bucks. not bad eh.

It's kind of funny how many of us are in China. I'm in Dalian （大连）。。

anyways, does anyone know anything about this M218A? Is it e-ink or not? I'm looking for something here, ... but for both the hanlin's and iliads they charge a lot more if buying from inside China.

I at a bare minimum want to find something with a high-resolution 6" or greater diagonal passive black-and-white lcd, ... though if going that road I would want it to be cheap. Ideally I'm trying to find an e-ink reader, but I don't want to pay an idiot tax on it.

from the pictures this M218A thing looks like it might be e-ink... and the ad says "22 hours or a month on standby" ... anyone have more information? anyone used one? is it any good? it looks like it's cheaper than the hanlin from what I see...

... but I don't want to pay an idiot tax on it.We prefer the term "Early Adoption Premium." :laughter:

@natch: I was referring to the fact that the iliad and the hanlin cost $100 more if purchased within China. I don't know much about the iliad but wrt the hanlin, it's *made* in China, and regardless of if I'm buying from inside or outside of China, I'd be ordering directly from the tianjin based company which would be shipping it to me. When I tell them I'm located *in* China the price goes up a hundred bucks, and they can't give me any kind of explination besides that it's their "product policy." I can understand an "early adoption premium," I know these things are expensive, but the deal with the hanlin just seems like an idiot tax.

@natch: I was referring to the fact that the iliad and the hanlin cost $100 more if purchased within China. I don't know much about the iliad but wrt the hanlin, it's *made* in China, and regardless of if I'm buying from inside or outside of China, I'd be ordering directly from the tianjin based company which would be shipping it to me. When I tell them I'm located *in* China the price goes up a hundred bucks, and they can't give me any kind of explination besides that it's their "product policy." I can understand an "early adoption premium," I know these things are expensive, but the deal with the hanlin just seems like an idiot tax.

I was browsing a chinese forum via Google Translate, & came across something that might explain the reason for the price differential.

This is GUESSWORK - I'm not too confident in the machine translation, but in China, when you buy a Hanlin eBook reader, you get access to several free books via their internal network. (I think around 10,000?)

Now - the catch is that they're not really free :p You're paying for them in the increased price of the eBook reader :)

Since western customers can't get access to these ebooks - well.... :)

Got my Sony reader to Australia over Xmas. Sure they will be expensive for the first year. But just to own such a new device is cool.

As it has been explained to me, many products made in China are more expensive inside China because of the Value Added Taxes. A good example was my HP laptop that I bought in Canada. When I priced the same model in China, it was more expensive.

I prefer to do my tech shopping in the west.

Speaking of shopping in China, my ISP gave me a surprise. We use WiFi here and have three PCs online at any time. The ISP blocked our access because they detected we were using more than one PC on the line. They also said we couldn't use a router. They run a script that checks packets to see if more than one IP address is on the connection. They also detect routers, presumably by checking the Time To Live in the packet. So we had to change our account to permit two machines. Now we run with fixed IP addresses, two of them, and have to be careful not to have certain computers on when others are being used. I wanted to set up one PC as a router and somehow fiddle with the TTL so we could have as many PCs running at the same time as we wished. But I got distracted by going to Thailand.