Prices of e-book readers not likely to drop soon

[kennyc]

Speaking of $99 Sony Readers

http://www.booksonboard.com/index.ph...uct&PRODUCT=67

[Grauheim]

So that's a $500 bundle (a Sony 300 and $400 book credit.)

My idea of the $15/month for a reader and 1 book per month works out to $540 for the reader and 36 books.

The math is very similar. Do you still believe such a subscription plan wouldn't work?

[GA Russell]

Originally Posted by fugazied

I'd rather see them retain current price levels and just add more features, in the same way Apple usually do. The release of a 'budget' Kindle might be nice, but I want a few more features yet before they start concentrating on dropping the price.

I'm in the other camp. Just as I prefer $1 pocket calculators that don't do much, I would prefer to have the opportunity to buy a very inexpensive eBook reader without the features.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

if I had had to deal with a monthly contract, I probably still would be without a device. for me that is a huge negative

For a lot of people its a positive when it comes to mobile phones, mostly those who can't add up how much their "free" phone has actually cost them.

I'm not sure if any of them are still running, but there used to be book clubs where you got so many books at the start for free and then had to buy a new book every 2 months, I guess once prices have dropped sufficiently then such things could offer a free ebook reader instead of those initial free books.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

I'm in the other camp. Just as I prefer $1 pocket calculators that don't do much, I would prefer to have the opportunity to buy a very inexpensive eBook reader without the features.

Realistically, as the market grows then we are bound to see both approaches as companies look for ways to establish themselves in the market.

One obvious consideration, once the rivals to e-ink manage to show up in actual products then we should see prices start to fall a bit quicker, at the moment there's no competition and they can keep their margins high.