Quote:
Originally Posted by kartu
Hm, so there are plenty of 6" Pearl screens, yet there is a shortage of 6" Sony Readers? (scratches head)
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It seems that the communal wisdom here is that Sony decided to satisfy the "home" market (which is Japan) before making any further strides in the West.
My personal conclusion is that Sony doesn't believe in viability or competitiveness of their e-reading product in the U.S. and, possibly, in Europe. They've pulled back from all retail channels in the U.S. with the notable exception of their own extremely unpopular online operation; and they have stopped replenishing the stocks of accessories. Obviously, they've given up on trying to compete the x50 series against Kindle and nook (and perhaps even Kobo).
From the pure
speculative perspective, it is possible that Sony is actively seeking a new partner to integrate the network-enabled readers currently under development into the partner's ebook marketing biosphere. If the history is any guide, the next generation of readers is due in about 3 months. The Sony ebook store is probably not doing a lot of business. Most ebook buyers haven't heard there is such a thing as Sony ebook store. Perhaps Sony is going to surprise everyone by offering the first reader that provides interface to a variety of ebook sources (i.e. B&N, Kobo, Overdrive, Feedbooks...) This would take them out of the position of being an overpriced biosphere player, which is probably failing anyway, and make them into a pure
quality hardware player.
I don't know if Sony is prepared to make a pure hardware bet. And I am not positive Sony's developers can make the necessary software changes to create an intuitive, easy to use multi-source ebook purchasing experience. But if they made an effort and tried, at least it would give them a good will advantage for a possible advertising campaign: "We are not nook, and we are not Kindle - we don't want you paying us dues for the rest of your reader's life. We give
you, our customer, the freedom to choose where to buy your ebook!"
In fact, multi-source integration shouldn't even be such a huge undertaking. All ebook sources have web interfaces, so PCs and smartphones are already "integrated". Sony Readers (e.g. PRS-9XX) already have the content-loading interface embedded (but currently only enabled for Sony store). Sony could even plug into some ebook price comparison site "to give you the best bang for your buck".
Multi-source integration and continued quality hardware would justify a certain price premium, I am sure.