Hi,

Place your bets on what HenryCat means in http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showpost.php?p=28831&postcount=237

"Can't give any comment on release date but..."

J

Very good idea to put up a poll...
*lol*

I bet Henrycat won't stop laughing for a week when he sees this... :indian_ch

I try to remain optimistic, so I picked choice #1.

so did everybody else so far...^^

apparently we are not capable of learning from our mistakes... :scholar:

Can't really vote can i :D

oh come on...^^

hey...who chose option 4...:-)

I did (-:

I did (-:

So did I :D

Option 2 for me.. I'm a Sarcastic mood.

Well...I think Option 1 is starting to look unlikely...

I'd say the shop will open tomorrow...probably in the morning when I have to be away for that audition...and when I get back it'll be sold out...nah...no need to be pessimistic...it will probably open sometime next week... :scholar:

Either that, or Henrycat is playing games with us...his newest cryptic remark makes me feel this is not too unlikely...but maybe I'm too wound up right now to see this objectively... :rolleyes5

if you give me your credit card details I will happy order one for you CommanderROR (And one for me, and several other friends) :-)

hehe...is that the famous british humour?
^^

if you give me your credit card details I will happy order one for you CommanderROR (And one for me, and several other friends) :-)

How loosely are you defining "friends," Riocaz? :shy:

Well I do so love your embassy...

hehe...is that the famous british humour?
^^

It was a pretty poor attempt at humor. even by my standards

well...it's been a long day...^^

Looking at the poll results it seems like we have an almost equal measure of optimists and pessimists with a slight tendency towards optimism...or wishful thinking...^^

Le'ts see who's right. There is still Monay, Tuesday and Wednesday to come...then the month of May is over and the Pessimists win...

I'm hoping for monday...I like to see launches and announcements made at the beginning of the week...wednesday would be possible...but launching the product on the last day of May would make it seem a bit of a joke...

Well, maybe the iRex team are funny people ;)

Well, maybe the iRex team are funny people ;)

Or maybe they are people that do not keep their word.

Honestly, I'm getting sick and tired of waiting....it has started to wear me out.

What's wrong with the Nokia 770 anyway? Phhht...

What's wrong with the Nokia 770 anyway? Phhht...

well, no e-ink display for starters ...

but you're right -> i got myself a 770 last week and i love it. internet, email, games ... and reading ebooks (with fbreader) is the best experience i've had with a handheld so far. the display is great.

i was planning to get an iliad right at launch day, but now i just may wait for a few months to see how it lives up to our high expectations (and maybe the price will drop ;) )

It's monday now...still fairly early, but the last days of May are now truly underway...

The suspense is killing me!!!

:-)

well, its monday and its 9:20. When do people start to work in the netherlands? It might be just another day of waiting. guess i start getting pessimistic here.

it's not when they start working that we should worry about...it's when they get their work done that we should be interested in...^^

But I must admit that I was hoping for an early morning release too..the fact that it's not happened means they are still working...or they took a day off...:-)

Well I was wrong I was convinced it was going to be today.

On a related note I phone Irex today to see if they would give more info. And was told that the webshop would be open in the "coming days"

That sounds to me, like they are not going to do it this month. What a pitty.
This delaying is so annoying, it makes me almost angry. They should open the shop soon, to lighten up my mood. (I heard for each day delay after Mai 31st, any customer ordering the iLiad on opening day gets a 10% discount ;) )

(I heard for each day delay after Mai 31st, any customer ordering the iLiad on opening day gets a 10% discount ;) )

Yes, so did I.
Then I heard they also found a cure for the common cold, had the solution for world peace and that intelligent life had been found in a government building.
...That McDonalds has earned two Michelin stars, the internet will be switched off for maintenance in three days and that radio dj's are really very clever people.

Then I heard even more voices and they...voices, arrrglll, the voices!! PLEASE SOMEBODY STOP THE VOICES!!! :mad:

I think I am going to bed now for a while..

You live in teh Netherlands...at least you won't have to worry about shippung costs and delivery times...:-)

Honestly...we are all going nuts here...^^

I'm battling myself at the moment...do I call iRex and try to get more definite information from them? If they really plan on opening the shop toda, tomorrow or the day after (end of May) then they should be certain by now...
Actually what I would do if I were in their position would be to open the shop so that people can start ordering and then start shippjng the devices as soon as they are done...then they'd get an even better idea of how many devices they're going to need and can start ordering the next batch...-)

I wonder how many devices they actually have and how they plan on updating them all to a certain sotware version.
Why not just put a piece of paper into every box that says somehting like "Please update before first use" or something..well..all speculation is useless...

Now...do I call them or not...hmm...

call em. And make em tell you an exact date and time for the shop ;) And while your at it, order the damn thing. Oh yes, order one for me too.

I called and they told me in a couple of day...and it was Loeki can der Lee on the phone...the same guy who (sometimes) answered my mails...^^
Now I'm finally convinced that Loeki is a female name...:-)

They can't give a precise date yet which is kina weird...why not? What are they doing???

Maybe Henrycat could get some more information for us, but he seems to be keeping away from the forums...which is a good idea I guess...^^

If I didn't know that it would be fruitless, I'd tell you all to call iRex now and ask the same question. Maybe they'd get annoyed and decide to announce a date...:-)

Anyway...if it doesn't appear today (which seems certain) and also doesn't arrive early tomorrow, then I'll have to start thinking about getting a paper book for next week...damn...^^
A package from the Netherlands to Germany probably only takes 1-2 days, but since I can't know which kind of service they'd use and how long (probybly very long) it'll take them to ready the package for sending...well...I'll probably be lucky if I get it by mid-june...if there isn't another delay...as unexpected as the first...

Oh by the way...for all germans: the 01050 enables you to call the netherlands for 1.65cent per minute... :scholar:

Henrycat was online for about 20 minutes just now...he probably wanted to check whether the hype is still going strong enough...^^

Sorry , but i think they a looking for a new "lame excuse" for the next delay.

Only a short message on the homepage "Launch in a few day´s , weeks or whatever " will stop the hype...

I'm no psychic but something tells me that its not appearing in May! :p

I have become apathetic toward the Iliad as of late. My anticipation hit a fever pitch at the end of April, but has slowly waned throughout the month to the point that I could care less when it is released. They had me hooked for a while, but if you hold the fish too long without reeling it in, you wind up losing it.

unfortunately I'm still not apathic enough towards the Iliad...i'm slowly but surely getting mad, because every morning I check email, irex and mobileread and I never get the release comfirmation.
And iRex is still talking "in the next couple of Days...we can't tell you more" which is starting to sound more and more worrying.
I wish Henrycat would talk to them and tell them to get a move on...but I guess his influence over them is not that strong after all...^^

this unavailability of the iliad is throwing me into a deep depression. After several weeks of euphoria, my body cant produce any more endorphines to lighten my mood. So i guess i will go an shoot myself. Well...wait.. maybe i just go read a pbook instead. ;)

But seriously, my chances of being right grow bigger (release on the last day of may).
So what is there to worry about. I would like to be right. (unless of course, they decide to open the webshop today)

Damnit another day dawns and still no Iliad.

*mutters*

Just a thought from someone who followed the Iliad developments in this forum and other places for the last two months:

Originally, I was very excited about the Iliad, as I really could use a good ebook reader (and new gadget).

But the inability of Irex to communicate in a consistent and honest manner makes me a bit skeptical about the whole Irex package.

If they can't even handle a shop thingy, what about all the other support processes? Like repair, exchange, upgrade automation, distribution of software and media, security patches? Will they be able to deliver all this?

The product just isn't the hardware anymore, it's a lot more - see iPod/iTunes/iTunes Music Store/AppleCare.

Maybe I underestimate the importance (to Irex) of wholesale deals vs. unimportance of end customers, maybe we are just a sideshow.

But, well, we _are_ early adopters and potential multipliers.

However, if the Shop goes live today or tomorrow and offers more than preorders, I'll be just as excited as everyone else.

What i'm really afraid of is, that they'll drag it out into june...maybe nto too far, but every day into june is one too many...
I don't know why, a couple of days don't make much difference, but they clearly stated "black on white" that they would release before the end of May and somehow I find it hard to believe that they will make it, so that promise is practically already broken...well...wel'll see.

In an attempt to be fair to Irex.

It's a brand new product. There are often delays when bringing a new product to market. The delays thus far haven't been that bad. I can think of worse. However in those cases it wasn't a product I was so eager for.

And they have only said that they are planning to have the Iliad for sale by the the end of May.

you are right...I "overread" that...^^

I an attempt to be fair to Irex.

It's a brand new product. There are often delays when bringing a new product to market. The delays thus far haven't been _that_ bad. I can think of worse. However in those cases it wasn't a product I was so eager for.

And they have only said that they are _planning_ to have the Iliad for sale by the the end of May.

I couldn't agree more, only Irex doesn't seem to be doing a good job communicating the cause of the delay. If they told us it was due to production or supply problems or any number of legitimate reasons, I could understand, but saying it is due to webshop implementation problems and then not a peep since, makes me wonder if they are not being honest.

I could be wrong and maybe someone can enlighten me on the difficulty of setting one up, but how long, realistically, can a webshop problem take to fix?

According to their website shop link, they also did not say they are "planning", but rather that they postponed the opening of the webshop from April to May 2006. Now they still have the better part of 2 days (At least going by Eastern time), to hold that promise. If they don't, they should be a little more detailed on what the problem is instead of telling us some non descriptive general problem and then nothing for another month. They risk losing some early adopters this way.

Irex-Home:

Purchase of the iLiad ER0100 will be possible via this Website.

Irex-FAQ:

Where can I buy the iLiad E-reader?

Although the business focus of iRex Technologies is Business-to-Business solutions, we will also make our product available for individuals, who can order via our iRex Technologies web retail. (April 2006)

Irex-Shop:

Although the business focus of iRex Technologies is Business-to-Business solutions, we will also make our product available for individuals.

Purchase of the iLiad ER0100 will be possible via this Website.

OPENING WEB SHOP DELAYED!
As the implementation of our Web Shop caused some unforeseen technical problems the opening has been postponed from April to May 2006.


Where do they talk about "plans"?

Yup we are eager for this to be released so of course we are all subject to reading more into their statements than they actually have said. This isn't helped by Irex's lack of communication of course.

You will have noticed that my comments have been less caustic recently. This is partially because I have cooled off somewhat (and tried to see things from another side) and because I have re-read their actual statements to ensure I'm not colouring my posts with my own mis-interpretation of what little information they have provided.

Technically it could be argued that they have made no public statement about the release of the Iliad.

The planning comment is a forwarded email. Which could, of course, be forged (I don't think it is as it matches what I was told by phone. Though it does seem a little odd that Loeki only responded to one person. I certainly havn't received a reply to either of my emails about the Iliad).

One was the comment I got over the phone (which could equally be me making it up).

And the other one was a comment by a news-reader who could be wrong or working from old information.

Where do they talk about "plans"?
In an email which one member of the forum claims to have received from Irex:

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6552
I herewith would like to inform you that we are planning to make the iLiad available for individual purchase via our Web shop before the end of May 2006.
And in the conversation I had with someone at Irex yesterday I was told that the webshop was expected to be open in the "coming days".

I couldn't agree more, only Irex doesn't seem to be doing a good job communicating the cause of the delay. If they told us it was due to production or supply problems or any number of legitimate reasons, I could understand, but saying it is due to webshop implementation problems and then not a peep since, makes me wonder if they are not being honest.
Thats essentially what got me to start posting here about a month ago:

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=28361#post28361
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=28366#post28366

(Gee wasn't I just so nice in those posts. I have calmed down some since then)

The last public comment they made was in regards to the webshop. Henrycat also made comments implying that there were problems with some of the 3rd party software (the PDF reader if memory serves, but I might be wrong). So we knew via an unofficial source that this wasn't the whole story.

Well, the only consolation is that 1) they (iRex) will not be doing a CLIO-NXT fiasco and 2) I got myself a Zaurus C1000 in the meantime ... :p

hmmm ... I need to check the forums if Maple replied about the V8 online order availability. hmmm

Damn...I'm really startig to jump at shadows here...
Every time I see Henrycat's name on the "active" list it starts me thinking that we could get a release date info or something...obsession is terrible..but at least I'm not alone...^^
Maybe it's fortunate that I have to work this evening and won't be online between 5 and midnight...:-)

Considering that the New York Times is in one of the 'beta' trials, and the US market is likely to be larger than the European market, do you think that checking bright and early on European Savings Time (or whatever it is called) should be supplemented by checking at around 6:30 AM New York time to hit the morning news cycles in the US?

(Ahem, just trying to drive everyone more nuts than we already are, having just checked for anouncements at lunch, and not neglecting MobiPocket in case they jump the gun)

Personally given the delays and some people saying dire things about the Irex, I am going to wait and see what the initial buyers and users have to say about the device before I get it. Irex hasn't been very upfront about what is going on with the device (need for updates, lack of full software development) and why it has been delayed. As such I don't necessarily trust them to come out with a device that is worth the large amount of money they want for it. I think waiting is the most prudent course.

Anyone getting up early, just in case? ;)

I have come up with a way to deal with my impatience! I made a decision that I will buy the device two months after its release. :) That gives me an entirely different prospective on the several days delay.

Cheers!
Tony.

I just got off the phone with Jeff in iRex's U.S. office (San Jose, California). I asked him straight out if they were going to make the end-of-May release date, and for a wonder got a clear, simple (if unsurprising at this point) answer:

No.

However, he was able to give me some further info.:

Jeff said that the hold up is not hardware related, but rather with some of the software & software providers (close paraphrase), as we've heard rumblings of. He added something to the effect that they had (badly, sounds like) underestimated the complexity of the software situation.

However, they are planning to do what he called an "early release" (sounds more like a "pre-release") in June to Developers, and such, that is, folks who [they expect] will be able to help them with the software issues (again, close paraphrase). I'm thinking that won't include the likes of us, well me anyway. :(

Here's the hard news: he said they didn't anticipate a general release until Fall -- September/October time frame (sounded like a definite guesstimate).

At least that gives me some more time to save my change toward the, what was it last? 549 Euros?

I'm really starting to get bummed out. I hope that I'm wrong. I did vote the first option, but, well, after being burned on so many similar devices before. I just don't know.

I started out reading ebooks on my Palm IIIx, then I bought a HieBook reader. I hoped it would catch on and gain popularity, but no such luck. Now I'm using a pda that has a 640x480 screen and font smoothing. It soooo easy on the eyes!! The Iliad looks like it will be better, though.

When the Librie first came out, I was tempted to have my sister grab one for me from the Akihabara (sp?) while she was in Tokyo. But the price, lack of an english interface and necessity of hacking it put me off. I also heard the contrast wasn't that good. The lure of a "real" eInk machine was strong, but I held out.

Then along comes the Iliad. 1024x768, 16 color greyscale...and the photos of it in action here just strengthened my resolve. I had to have one. I could wait a little. But, ugh!! The waiting is killing me!!

http://members.arstechnica.com/x/drogo/angry_user.gif

Like another poster here, I want one for my vacation. But it's over the July 4th week, so I have a little more time. Still....I feel like it will be close.

WHY WON'T YOU LET ME GIVE YOU MONEY IREX!!!?????

:(

Edit: Just saw the above post. So the waiting continues... :( :(

That is terrible news. If true, and it certainly has a very loud ring of the awful truth, I'm going to wait a while and entertain myself with a Nokia 770 in the meantime. They are complimentary devices anyway. I also like the idea of carrying internet radio around the house with me... Chin up folks!

@NatCh

Your information is very different from everything we have heard so far...very strange that...I didn't even think they had any offices or representatives in other countries...

For the time being I'll stick with the information Henrycat gave us and of course the Information firsthand from iRex (Loeki van der Lee) by phone that didn't esactly state that they'd make it in may, but definately said "in the next couple of days" which isn't too bad or with the information given on Channel4 interview that spoke of the next couple of week about 2 weeks ago.
Maybe things are different for the US...could be that there will be a seperate launch outside the EU for those who don't want to order directly from the Netherlands.

After following these developments for some time, I can not keep quiet any more...
My completely uninformed :blink: oppinion is the following:
Every mobile book company would like to make the iPod of books. The iPod had 2 things going for it: a great user interface, and iTunes, which let people easily, legally, and cheaply, buy music for their iPod.
I bet that book publishers are at least as scared of mobile readers and digital books as music companies where/are of easy access to mp3. From all these stem the insistance of the readers on DRM, and why the advances in the technology is proceeding at snail-pace.
I bet that behind the scenes, there are fierce negotiations with publishers going on, which the book reader companies see as essencial for their success.
My feeling is that buggy software, and buggy websites (sadly) have not yet prevented a launch of a product. And, it is easy to say something like "we are working to make sure that the software will be perfect when our product is released", but not so easy to say "we are currently being delayed, because we are negotiating DRM issues with publishers."
Therefore, my bet is that most of the delay is caused by the insistance of reader companies to get the blessing of the publishers, and the fear of the publishers from easily accessible books.

But wasn't one of the reasons given for the higher spec and higher price becauce the Iliad wasn't actually targetted at "book" readers but for news and professional (medical and the like) applications?

It's us that view it mainly as a book reader.

@NatCh

Your information is very different from everything we have heard so far...very strange that...I didn't even think they had any offices or representatives in other countries...
I found the listing on iRex's website, listed under "Regional Support (http://www.irextechnologies.com/support.htm)" back in January, when I didn't want to call the Netherlands to ask a question. :)

For the time being I'll stick with the information Henrycat gave us and of course the Information firsthand from iRex (Loeki van der Lee) by phone that didn't esactly state that they'd make it in may, but definately said "in the next couple of days" which isn't too bad or with the information given on Channel4 interview that spoke of the next couple of week about 2 weeks ago.
I can't blame you for that at all. :) I'd certainly prefer for them to be correct, or at least more correct, and this fellow I talked to to be completely off. However, I did call them and I've told y'all what he told me, it's probably wise to take it with a grain of salt, if you prefer. :shy:

Let me point out, though, that since those pieces did air, as you said, about two weeks ago, they could have been simply going on iRex's then stated release of end of May. Certainly iRex wasn't saying anything different at the time.

These are the same folks who told me the 650 Euros price, I think before anyone else had gotten a price out of them, back on January 30th (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showpost.php?p=25538&postcount=22) (post #22 in this thread (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5664&page=2&pp=20)). Let me state clearly that I'm not certain that I got/posted the price first, I know I was among the first, but I haven't done a full check to be sure either way. I know the price may have changed some since then, but they were right there for a while, anyway. :)

In any case, I was just the guy who found the number and made the call, so that's not a big deal, I only mention it as a comment on the previous reliability of the information from that source.

Maybe things are different for the US...could be that there will be a seperate launch outside the EU for those who don't want to order directly from the Netherlands.
That would be nice too, certainly I haven't heard anything that would preclude them doing something like what you're suggesting. I'm not convinced that I'd do the overseas ordering thing, myself, even if the price turned out to be much lower than reported, but I certainly don't want to rain on y'all's parade if that's what iRex is planning to do. Far better they release the thing somewhere!

Anyway, the next couple of weeks will tell us which is correct, I suppose.

And if what I got turns out to be correct, I would love to know what Henrycat was sounding so smug about -- had they told him something that fell through, or was he just engaging in a bit of good, clean chain-yanking? Maybe he'll be able to tell us in a few days, unless it was the latter and he's either not brave enough to admit it, or not done yankin' :rolleyes5

I think I could even find it in my heart to forgive him his fun (if that's what it was/is), in light of all the great hands-on info he's given us about the device. :xmas:

Well I hope your contact was mistaken NatCh. But at this point it looks like you are probably correct.

Of course that may only apply to a direct US release. But if it's a software issue then I kinda doubt it.

It does beg the question why they are taking fo darned long to give an official update of any form.

IMO - I sincerely doubt Henrycat was trying to yank anyones chain. I would guess that he was given a date but was asked not to mention it publically due to it "Not being 100% sure yet".

He's been very quiet since his hint.

Oh, I wouldn't be too upset if it were chain-yanking, Riocaz, and I agree that the latter is probably the more likely scenario. :)