[EatingPie]

Originally Posted by Leyor

I think you're taking the comment a little too serious, it was my attempt to be a little humorous and lighten the mood since we're in complete disagrement about the core subject.

Oh, okay! It wasn't funny, but I get it now! (Kidding!)

I do not believe that you are a paid Sony employee, although I'd welcome that level of commitment from Sony and I don't think you habour any ill intentions just because we're in disagreement.

No I don't, neither do I believe you harbor ill intentions either.

I do think you're guilty of a bit of an apologism though. I think the bulk of posts in this forum indicates that Sony is giving up a big of the market that they previously held. If this is in anticipation of a new strategy I do not know and can only speculate about. But their readers and their accessories ARE less available than they were 6 months ago.

"Apology" means to explain. I certainly hope that's what I'm guilty of, since many claims made in this thread were not based on any substantiated data!

In terms of the Readers being less available, that is true in terms of a few retailers, but does not support the implied conclusion of discontinued product.

Two US retailers have verified not selling readers any longer -- Best Buy and B&H. But there are still a variety of other sellers still selling the devices, including Amazon Marketplace, Sears and Target -- the last of which stopped selling in-store over a year ago to make room for the Kindle. I find it significant that they still sell the Sony online.

I also think you're guilty of using a logical fallacy consisting of exceptions to argue your point rather than arguing the assertions themselves.

Not at all. And if we wanted to address fallacy, how about that nobody actually checked what was available, and where, until my post citing readers found in several stores!

Examples are:

Claim: There's less accessories available than before, even on Sony's website.
Counterclaim: There's not, and even if there's less than 6 months ago, it's only for specific models, and these specific models stopped being available 6 months ago anyways.

You missed the point: "Claim" was not true!

I was not arguing an exception I was arguing that the claim was provably false, the exact wording I used in previous posts.

Also, you incorrectly cite me. I never said "specific models [plural] stopped being available 6 months ago." I said, "specific model" singular. The PRS-650 Black. Not the red, mind you, but the black. So lack of availability was limited to one color of one model.

So once again, citations were wrong, and the facts do not support the conclusion. I mean, to conclude a whole line is being discontinued due to a single color/model combination? I'm not there.

Same goes for the PRS-950 cover.

The fact that there's still some accessories remaining, doesn't change that Sony has less products available than before.

What does this mean? Less total product available? Again, I do not agree with this assertion, but neither of us has numbers from Sony!

Claim: Sony is disinvesting themselves of their retailers, posts on this forum indiciate it is so. VHS in the UK, Target, Borders and Best Buy in the US.
Counterclaim: One of Sony's models the 350 is still widely available.

First and foremost, the claim was that no readers were widely available. None. The whole line, gone! This was completely untrue, and even citing one model -- the one Sony believes to be their strong point (it's the only one of its kind) -- invalidates the claim.

Now, in your list, only two retailers count: VHS and BB.

Target still sells Readers. Borders filed for bankruptcy. That is a sign of a failed retailer not a sign of Sony divesting from the market.

Again, I am not arguing exceptions. I am arguing against incorrect citation and invalid use of information.

Same as before.

Indeed. I am correcting factual errors. Same as before!

This is really the trend of argumentation. None of us are Sony market specialists, so everything here is purely speculative.

Agreed. However, arguments based on false data to start with are suspect in the utmost! There were repeated claims of Readers not being available on the Sony store, when in reality it was limited to one color of one model! When you conclude the Readers are being discontinued on errant citations, your conclusion is invalidated.

Having less product less widely available, not meeting demand, is not encouraging for the majority of us. It's not a common indication of success to withdraw your product and not meeting demand. We all hope that Sony is successfull since we enjoy their readers and look forward to new models, but we disagree on their success.

We don't disagree on the success, we disagree on the basic assertion, or I guess the degree of the assertion.

And in terms of success, Sony is hiring an engineer for the Reader division (based in the US). If you are discontinuing a product, you fire people. And in this still-poor economy, even a single job is a good thing. So even this single fact (which was, again, dismissed) contradicts the notion of Sony discontinuing their Readers.

-Pie