@Mediamania: 10k units was their
August production run, and they're supposed to have another 10k run right behind it. You're right that even 20k units won't move Sony's overall 'needle,' but the PRS-500 group's needle will be pegged out by such volume.
I haven't counted the outlets listed in the thread discussing them, so there might very well be only 35 of them that we know of around here, but some of the locations discussed were Borders, so at least
some Borders have already received units (and sold them all), according to eyewitness reports from other MobileReaders.
I don't have any way to see where all they've shipped what, but the indications I have been able to dig up support the claim of ~750 outlets being in the right ballpark, at any rate.
The PRS-500
was listed for pre-order at Amazon for a day or so, before it was de-listed, so I wouldn't count them out completely on selling it quite yet. Sure, they have their own reader in the works, but we only know that by accident, and there's no indication that they're anywhere close to actually releasing it, so I just don't view that as iron-clad proof that they won't sell someone else's reader, at least in the meantime.
As for the rest, I certainly haven't done extensive research to find out exactly which locations have gotten and sold how many units. The chatter around here has suggested a fair number of locations getting multiple shipments of a dozen or so at a time, but I wouldn't consider even the (fairly high volume of) discussion here to be anywhere near a comprehensive accounting.
Largely my own conjecture and opinion, so salt to taste.
