Seeing as the reader wouldn't require any additional language developemnt for the UK, I was wondering if anybody 'In the know' knew if Sony has plans for a UK launch of the reader.
Now I know there is localisation issues concerning book releases for the UK.
But I can't see as it would be a great stretch to create a UK specific Connect store.
So any thoughts?

So far it looks as if Sony have no plans for launch outside the US. Which is a shame as I would most definitely use a UK connect store and without doubt buy a second reader.

From what I've read they are testing the US market first. If it's successful, they will consider expanding to other countries.

Knowing that the reader sold out due to overwhelming demand and the fact that our good friend geekraver is doing a brisk trade with us British.
I have no doubt that Sony corporate do visit 'the foremost' eink site on the web.
With that in mind hopefully a thread like this could prompt them to 'make a statement' soon about UK plan's

I asked them about this previously and got the following back:
Unfortunately, we do not have any further information regarding the release of the PRS-500 at this present moment.

Kind regards,

Sony Style UK
This was on the 26th September, so it may be worth someone asking again now

Knowing that the reader sold out due to overwhelming demand and the fact that our good friend geekraver is doing a brisk trade with us British.
I have no doubt that Sony corporate do visit 'the foremost' eink site on the web.
With that in mind hopefully a thread like this could prompt them to 'make a statement' soon about UK plan's
A good marketing firm will not use a fan base in it's studies because they represent an extreme in a study. They are more preoccupied with what Joe Middle Who thinks.

Unfortunately the majority of reviews I've seen don't seem too favourable. It's almost like tech writers are afraid of new tech. Same goes for a lot of the comments on the likes of engadget, digg and slashdot. I know you can't expect glowing reports but repeatedly seeing the same uninformed opinions makes you wonder whether the Reader will gain acceptance in the face of such complete stubbornness.

Going off the vast majority of comments from tech savvy users, they don't seem keen on the idea of e-books at all. Strange state of affairs if you ask me. So conquering average Joe's preconceptions is going to be a tough one.

The closed minded nature of the tech press in general, regarding all new products these days is puzzling to me. Engadget rarely post a positive article on anything and so tend to slant the following comments.

The closed minded nature of the tech press in general, regarding all new products these days is puzzling to me. Engadget rarely post a positive article on anything and so tend to slant the following comments.

Its been going on for quite a while... Check out the comment of the Ipod being released on Slashdot :

"No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame."
http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/23/1816257&tid=3

I think its because tech writers have been burned so many times before they can be bothered to get excited anymore...!

The closed minded nature of the tech press in general, regarding all new products these days is puzzling to me. Engadget rarely post a positive article on anything and so tend to slant the following comments.

I agree. I get the idea that these sites just slag off products to make themselves look cool. Either that or they're tired of the whole scene altogether or embarrassed of being a geek.

Actually, I think you'll find that these guys are pretty excited about tech and gadgets. But they are bombarded with new stuff and new announcements, so they are pretty picky about which ones really get them excited. And they have their favorite stuff like all of us do also. Everyone has certain products or companies that just get you excited. Apple is the most common, I guess.

But I wish people could see past all the little things and realize how awesome the Sony Reader is. I think if the price were <$100 people would be going crazy over it. That day will come eventually, but not tomorrow.

But I wish people could see past all the little things and realize how awesome the Sony Reader is. I think if the price were <$100 people would be going crazy over it. That day will come eventually, but not tomorrow.
Not tomorrow nor the day after!
Sony is not known for any "largesse".
But they might make a successor built in Asia with a more popular flavour!

The tech press aren't there to make predictions on a devices success or failure IMO. Concentrating on calling it's rise or fall is half the problem. By trying to be right it's easier to say it sucks and almost force failure on a product than to give an honest impression and let consumers decide for themselves.

I probably shouldn't have quoted /. as a source for negative tech press as they've always been negative about everything to almost comic effect as shown by the iPod link posted above :) hehe.

taking the Reader as an example Engadget have been reporting for the last few weeks that the reader has been delayed. Clearly not the case and obviously someone somewhere has their wires crossed, but that kind of press doesn't help anyone.

Being burned should never be an issue for a review/news/blog site. How can you be burned if you're honest ?. If a product then goes on to fail then it's at the feet of the manufacturer not the review site. You don't get bad rep for honesty.

It just seems the recipe for writing a successful blog these days is

if it's from a major corp - MS, Sony etc. Then it's bad or a copy of <product X> from <small corp>

if it's from a small upstart - then it'll fail in <intended market>

From anyone not covered by these 2 rules then snide comments and misinformation will suffice.

Rampant fanaticism and ignorance has owned the net.

I was very impressed with the reviews that MR did for the Reader after the visit you guys made to Sony. It was impartial, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the device without the side commentary that's become so popular about root-kits and exploding batteries. I got the information I was after by reading those reviews. That kind of reporting is what I would like to see Engadget and Gizmodo and all those other sites, go back to.

I was very impressed with the reviews that MR did for the Reader after the visit you guys made to Sony. It was impartial, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the device without the side commentary that's become so popular about root-kits and exploding batteries. I got the information I was after by reading those reviews. That kind of reporting is what I would like to see Engadget and Gizmodo and all those other sites, go back to.
Right about that. I was impressed also. :)

Thanks for the kind words, guys. I appreciate them.

I should say that that was a lot of work to turn out for just one time, so that may be part of why those blogs don't do it all the time. :smile:

Fortunately, I don't thing that John Q. Reader reads engadget, et. al. all that much (my parents have never heard of it except from me, and they read a great deal). Unfortunately, they're probably not reading MobileRead either. :sad:

Right about that. I was impressed also. :)

Ditto. I take "ground truth" over any other ironic/cynical/faux-cool write-up by Engadget, The Register, etc.

I have got to admit it does annoy me that engadget are going on about the Sony readers 'Delayed launch' When what actually happened was that the reader was launched and they SOLD EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!!
Im suprised the editors can't figure out the difference.

I've tried participating in Engadget threads a little while back. Most participants are full of themselves, agressive, mean, unforgiving and not at all that well informed. Actually Engadget treats most products as toys. Readers are not. Have you seen how many posts there are about gaming platforms? Nothing culturally serious there!

Engadget is only serious by It's news format. MR is serious throughout, except for a few clowns like me!

Everytime I look at their comments, my blood pressure rises. I gotta stop doing that.

Come to think of it, their stories tend to make my blood pressure go up too, unless I know nothing about the subject of the story, then I don't know what they're wrong about. :tongue2:

Has anyone listened to their podcasts?
Three subjects...phones, PSP and Apple. But coverage of the electronic shows is top NatCh...I mean top notch! :happy2:

Their podcast is dull and focuses far too much on phones and service providers but then the product refresh rates on phones are so high that the vast quantity of gadget news is phone based.

For phones there's Engadget Mobile, right? I guess there just isn't enough non-phone news to fill a podcast.

Maybe they should change their name to PhoneGadget? EnPhone, perhaps? :laugh4:

I asked them about this previously and got the following back:

This was on the 26th September, so it may be worth someone asking again now

While I wouldn't buy one myself. Both my parents and my sister are taken with my iLiad. But as they do not require wifi or the touchscreen I thought the Sony would be more suitable...

This is the answer I got out of Sony today (the best part of a week since asking the question).

Thank you for your recent enquiry.

Each Sony Marketing Company decides in advance which products they will
sell, based on local market trends. However, no detail of the products to
be launched nor their specifications are made available (to Sony customer
services or consumers) before their launch.
For and on behalf of
It is therefore with regret that I am not able to provide any information on
this product at this time, but should we launch this product in the future
details will be posted on our website, www.sony.co.uk.

The launch of the PRS500 is a very exciting development, however it is
currently a US product, where they have a very different market place to the
United Kingdom. Whilst it is a good indicator of the way technology is
progressing, we cannot always guarantee that we will launch the same
products in this country as they do in the US.

Even though you may be able to get the product sent over, it is only
designed for use in the USA and we cannot guarantee the products performance
in the United Kingdom. But please keep an interest as this is a very popular
product and we do receive many requests for when it may be released.

I apologise for the disappointment this response may cause.

"we cannot guarantee the products performance in the United Kingdom"That's hysterical! :laugh4: (and I don't mean the missing apostrophe)

Blah! blah! blah!

Well!at least you tried Riocaz!

"The launch of the PRS500 is a very exciting development,..."

It's good that Sony sees it that way. Would suck if they were disappointed with the launch and decided to discontinue it.

I'm concerned... I have PRS500 in the UK, and perhaps it'll stop working now...

I'm concerned... I have PRS500 in the UK, and perhaps it'll stop working now...
"Once bit twice shy".
One of the biggest reasons to hold out till it comes out here!

I'm concerned... I have PRS500 in the UK, and perhaps it'll stop working now...


No it'll just be slower due to localised electromagnetic field instability.