Sony PRS505 in Canada

[igorsk]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

I might be wrong but I believe it could do with copyright laws. There is no special interface needed for French other than the accents; which are supported. There are ebooks in France, I have a few so I don't see anything else than lawyereese stopping Sony.

I meant the user interface: menus, messages etc. My guess is that Quebec laws would require the Reader to have French menus to be sold there (and, consequently, eBook Store interface to be available in French too).

[balok]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

I might be wrong but I believe it could do with copyright laws. There is no special interface needed for French other than the accents; which are supported. There are ebooks in France, I have a few so I don't see anything else than lawyereese stopping Sony.

Copyright law is a federal jurisdiction.

[balok]

Originally Posted by Guesser

I think this is more business and personal convenience than any disrespect to French speakers

I don't expect Sony to base their decisions on anything else than making money. What I'm complaining about is the fact that Canadian law allows this kind of thing. If importers are forced to have bilingual labels on their goods, why shouldn't they be forced to market a bilingual user interface? It's not a question of disrespect on the part of Sony, but rather of disrespect on the part of the Parliament of Canada for French speaking citizens.

[bob_ninja]

Jeeez, it took them long enough. At least the price is correct and free shipping is nice.
Still, I'll wait for the next version before even considering it. My Cybook works just fine.

[Guesser]

Originally Posted by balok

I don't expect Sony to base their decisions on anything else than making money. What I'm complaining about is the fact that Canadian law allows this kind of thing. If importers are forced to have bilingual labels on their goods, why shouldn't they be forced to market a bilingual user interface? It's not a question of disrespect on the part of Sony, but rather of disrespect on the part of the Parliament of Canada for French speaking citizens.

Yeah, this is what I was referring to when I said "but if Sony were required to make a simultaneous French release in order to enter the Canadian market, then they may choose to overlook Canada entirely or the price of Canadian releases of products could be more significantly increased". Making that law is something to consider, but it would have some negative effects, and there would be some exceptions (eg. for applications critical to Canadian companies in rapidly evolving industries). There would also be a regulations body to check all this, plus paperwork required from the businesses concerned (in an attempt to reduce the costs of the regulations body). I like the idea, but there has to be a path from where we are now to there. When I think about it further, I don't like the path that I'm imagining.

Anyway, I fairly often see products in Asian areas that are only in Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. That's another complication. I'm not sure if it's even legal, but I like it when they get in, so long as they don't pose a physical hazard.

[astra]

Originally Posted by Guesser

"but if Sony were required to make a simultaneous French release in order to enter the Canadian market, then they may choose to overlook Canada entirely or the price of Canadian releases of products could be more significantly increased". Making that law is something to consider, but it would have some negative effects.

That's what I was thinking about. I guess you (Canadians) would have to face a choice, either to have Sony Reader with English interface only right now, or wait indefinite period of time until Sony duplicates its English support for the reader to French, or maybe never bother with it and overlook Canada all together.
If I were a French Canadian, I would choose to have the reader right now with English interface and do not complain too loudly...because right now it is not about nationality negligence but pure business/money.

...let alone there are no books in French in Sony ebook store. Are there DRMed books in French in lit or mobi formats?


P.S. please noticed, although I do live in the UK, it is only for the last 5 years and my first/second languages are Russian/Hebrew.

[simonp]

Do devices like the iPod, that sell in the hundreds of thousands (vs. thousands for the ereader), come with French interfaces in Quebec?

[captaingeorges]

Originally Posted by simonp

Do devices like the iPod, that sell in the hundreds of thousands (vs. thousands for the ereader), come with French interfaces in Quebec?

My 2 ipods and my 2 Macbooks work in french without any problems...

So does my Cybook!!!


Regards,


Georges

[balok]

Originally Posted by simonp

Do devices like the iPod, that sell in the hundreds of thousands (vs. thousands for the ereader), come with French interfaces in Quebec?

Yes, all the major gadgets are available in French. Developing an interface in French is a trivial task for a programmer.

[balok]

Originally Posted by astra

I guess you (Canadians) would have to face a choice, either to have Sony Reader with English interface only right now, or wait indefinite period of time until Sony duplicates its English support for the reader to French, or maybe never bother with it and overlook Canada all together.

Apparently, the choice has been made by the Parliament of Canada, dominated by English-speaking MPs.

[astra]

So, you would prefer if they said No no to Sony and left you without even half-criplled-English-interfaced Sony reader? (because I am almost sure they would not go to all the trouble of making French interface, French website and French books right now, probably in future - yes, but right now English market is already operating and expanding it from the USA to Canada is not a problem)

[simonp]

Originally Posted by astra

So, you would prefer if they said No no to Sony and left you without even half-criplled-English-interfaced Sony reader? (because I am almost sure they would not go to all the trouble of making French interface, French website and French books right now, probably in future - yes, but right now English market is already operating and expanding it from the USA to Canada is not a problem)

As an anglo Canadian, my opinion is Quebeckers should be able to read in French, whether that's an advertisement, a print book or an ereader.

If that means the Sony ereader is not available in Canada until it gets a French interface, and I have to order one from the US at markup -- that's an interesting question. It would limit my own personal reading choices, but at the same time, it would probably help expand the reading choices of my fellow citizens in Quebec.

How do you answer a question like that?

If Quebeckers raised enough of a fuss about this (as I believe has been done in the past over things like video games in French ), then Parliament would pass a law. And in that case I would support it. But I think this is a case of the audience for ereaders being too small at the moment to influence politics. Maybe once ereaders reach critical mass in the population things would change.

[jaguaracer]

Originally Posted by NatCh

That suggests that it may already be possible to access the eBookstore with a Canadian Credit Card ... has anyone given it a try yet?

I can't really tell if anyone has responded to this but yes! When registering a credit card you can put Canada as your country (just did this).

[yvanleterrible]

It could be that the interface is not quite ready yet and is about to come out.

I would never expect a serious company like Sony to go head on against a country's laws because they expect to be protected by the same judiciary system ;copyright wise. If the devices are set to be sold shortly I expect the French version very soo after unless...they think that Québec will separate from Canada soon and be considered as an other country YAY!!!

[simonp]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

If the devices are set to be sold shortly I expect the French version very soo after unless...they think that Québec will separate from Canada soon and be considered as an other country YAY!!!

My ideal is an independent Quebec in a strong and united Canada.