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Originally Posted by rsuryase
Economics rule at the end of the day. SONY will crush iRex if they enter the EU market.
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I might agree with you about the relative size of the companies, and their likeliness to be there in a few years' time, but there's a very good reason for Europeans not to buy a Sony Portable Reader.
There's a big UK market for gadgets, and quite a few people who like gadgets in continental Europe, but I started to look for other e-ink readers because I feel the European market has been let down by Sony. I waited through the Librie and the Portable Reader, assuming that the European release of the Portable Reader would turn up a couple or three years after the US release. Sony apparently have no plans to bring out the Portable Reader for Europe. I suppose there'd be language issues about trying to produce content for all European countries--but I suspect British gadget-freaks plus people from other countries who can read in English would make a big enough market for it to be worth doing.
Us European types have been watching theYanks on the forums complaining about having to deal with a European company -- it's just as bad the other way round, plus non-US Portable Reader owners apparently have to pretend they're in the US just to get content onto the device.
The iLiad is the first e-ink reader to be available in the UK, which is quite a step forward. If Sony had definite plans to roll out the Portable Reader in Europe, it might well be worth waiting for, but they're not even planning for it in a few years' time. There's a definite tone of We Might Change Our Minds And Bring It Out But Don't Hold Your Breath in Sony's statement.