01-25-2011, 02:23 AM | #31 |
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Why shouldn't Sony be no.2 worldwide? Here in Germany all the big bookstores have Sonys on display and nearly no other ereaders. Most of the others are Pocketbooks and Bookeens Opus. So I would take it as given Sony is the biggest player here. Multiply this by Europe and you have some handsome sales.
What all of you keep forgetting are two valuable points 1. There are more countries in this world than the US alone and 2. out of the US wifi/3G does not attract anyone/hardly a single soul/play a role in buying decisions |
01-25-2011, 04:07 AM | #32 |
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Also, Sony is selling them as fast as they can make them. So why would they want to INCREASE the sales? Because they can't.
I don't have any need for WiFi/3G. I travel internationally a lot. I carry a laptop for work and surfing, and virtually every hotel has Internet. So I have no need of something that will addd size, weight and reduce battery life. |
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01-25-2011, 08:43 AM | #33 |
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I bought the Sony 950, upgrading from my Sony 505, which I gave to my wife, with the intent of subscribing to the electronic edition of the New York Times. I wanted the 950 for both the larger screen and the WiFi/3G, in the belief that it would make it much easier to download my daily newspaper. After a few days of trying the electronic version, my wife requested that we return to the print subscription. She didn't like reading the newspaper on the 950 (I loved it), although she does like reading ebooks on the 505, and so we canceled the electronic subscription.
That was a couple of months ago. Since then I have bought about 50 ebooks. Most of them are from Smashwords and require sideloading, just as I had/have to do with my 505. I admit that the books I have bought from the Sony ebookstore downloaded directly and easily, but the truth of the matter is that sideloading is not a problem. I may buy ebooks today, but not bother to load them onto the devices for days, at which time I sideload all purchased books at once. My point is that I have the WiFi/3G but could have as easily done without it. It just is neither necessary for me nor a factor (now that I know I will not be subscribing to the New York Times electronically) for future consideration. Especially when I consider how infrequently I use it. Much more important are the features that directly affect my reading experience -- the touch screen, the dictionaries, the ergonomics, the feel of quality. |
01-25-2011, 01:25 PM | #34 | |
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01-25-2011, 01:51 PM | #35 | |
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In Europe epub is the dominating format which you can buy at a plethora of shops. There are market differences. And as the US are not the world but just a part of it, it is perfectly possible that Sony is the second biggest company and not in need of wifi at the same time. |
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01-25-2011, 02:03 PM | #36 |
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I would have thought that wifi would be attractive world-wide. I can only speak for myself, but I struggled to not add 3g capability to the wifi requirement. Wifi is so prolific in the areas I normally go that I've not experienced the need for 3g. At least to my mind's eye, wifi is highly desirable and precluded any consideration on my part for the PRS350/650 or other such EBR.
I still don't get why it would be a regional thing (wifi, that is). Regarding formats, I was completely unaware of ebook formats until I began my EBR research a couple of months ago. As far as I knew, ebooks were like emusic... you d/l from the site of your choice and play back on the device of your choice. Wow, was I wrong. Well, temporarily, at least. And then I educated myself on how to make it work like I thought it should. Which freed me up to buy the device of choice. As to whether or not Sony is #2, it doesn't matter to me. I was just curious why some figures were considered to be guesses and others were taken as fact. |
01-25-2011, 02:36 PM | #37 | |
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Right now the following readers in Germany have wifi/3G: Oyo which is tied to a shop called Thalia. Acer Lumiread which is tied to a shop called Libri. And Pocketbook which is tied to no shop but the 3G doesn't work in exchange. Do you now see why I doubt the significance of wifi over here? |
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01-25-2011, 02:50 PM | #38 | |
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01-25-2011, 03:43 PM | #39 |
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01-25-2011, 03:46 PM | #40 |
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In the US, many people have wifi in their homes. We have wifi in Starbucks and in McDonalds, and in other public places. It's prevalent. Is that the case in other countries? If you can't find a wifi connection in any of the usual places that you go to, then wifi is not going to be an attractive feature in a reader.
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01-25-2011, 04:00 PM | #41 | |
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Even in airports you gotta pay if you want wifi in duty free. |
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01-25-2011, 04:03 PM | #42 | |
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P.S. I have Wi-Fi in my house since Jan 2005 and I am a network engineer, so do not "dislike" it. I just don't see any usage for one outside of my house and in the house I have enough computers that I have paid money for regardless whether I have or not ebook reader, not to pay more money for wi-fi feature on ebook reader if all I have to do in order to add a book is connect my ebook reader to one of many freely available USB cables plugged in to my computer. Last edited by astra; 01-25-2011 at 04:07 PM. |
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01-25-2011, 04:03 PM | #43 |
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01-25-2011, 04:10 PM | #44 | |
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Have not heard about it. Maybe I should visit McDonalds for a change? We don't have Starbucks in the town but the last time I was in Starbucks not in a big city I have not noticed any advertisements about free wi-fi access. |
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01-25-2011, 04:12 PM | #45 | |
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http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/restauran...FUhO4QodpCr7iw |
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