09-02-2011, 08:04 AM | #61 |
Lost and clueless
Posts: 194
Karma: 233336
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: UK
Device: PRS-T1, Kobo Glo, Kindle for Andriod, Kobo for Android
|
Currently showing on the UK site as £120. Wish I could place a pre-order, at that price I'll definitely be updating my prs600.
EDIT And then ten minutes later its at £159.97. Perhaps I won't be treating myself just yet Last edited by feenix1363; 09-02-2011 at 08:13 AM. |
09-02-2011, 08:09 AM | #62 |
Guru
Posts: 729
Karma: 3822612
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Sweden
Device: Paperwhite 2, Kobo Aura H2O
|
I have a friend who'd buy a Sony right away if it had a Spanish to Swedisg Dictionary built in.
|
09-02-2011, 08:13 AM | #63 |
Space Cadet
Posts: 1,180
Karma: 4030536
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: South Africa
Device: Sony PRS-T1, Cybook Opus, Kobo Glo
|
Depending on what the new Kindles look like I might opt for one of these. My Opus is still working perfectly, but it would be good to have one of the Pearl e-ink screens.
|
09-02-2011, 08:31 AM | #64 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 11,732
Karma: 128354696
Join Date: May 2009
Location: 26 kly from Sgr A*
Device: T100TA,PW2,PRS-T1,KT,FireHD 8.9,K2, PB360,BeBook One,Axim51v,TC1000
|
Quote:
With the reader, the single biggest cost is still screen, which is Taiwan-sourced, not Japan-made. So a high yen would lower the cost of the screen. Other large costs are the adobe license, payable in dollars, and software development which is done in california. Sony is not a japanese company any more than Ford is an american company; both are multinationals with facilities spread across the globe, who source components and build products however/wherever is most convenient, regardless of where their corporate HQ might be located. Just because previous reader models were built in Japan is no guarantee the T1 is; it might be coming from the same chinese facilities that build PS3s. Also of note, well-run multinationals usually spread their cash reserves and play financial games to hedge against currency fluctuations. Losses in one currency are offset by gains in others. Finally, Sony's reader business is small enough ($250M out of $86B) that any hypothetical losses are rounding errors compared to their recent losses from phones, Playstation hardware, and TVs ($3B in just the last year). Whether they make or lose money on the readers is of limited impact on the bottom line as long as HQ thinks it is an important enough business for the company to stay in it So it really doesn't matter whether *we* think it is possible for Sony to compete on price, or whether we think they need to do it. The T1 redesign and launch says *they* believe it. And, if the quoted IDC report of 800,000 units sold in 2010 is accurate (and it probably is; their 2009 numbers were 1.1 million) that means Sony reader sales have been stagnant at best, declining at worst, for the last two years. And those have been years of explosive growth in the business. With their global market share down to 4% Sony is in danger of falling into nichedom or worse so they "probably" needed to do *something*. The something is T1. Now we get to see what the market thinks of it. |
|
09-02-2011, 08:49 AM | #65 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 11,732
Karma: 128354696
Join Date: May 2009
Location: 26 kly from Sgr A*
Device: T100TA,PW2,PRS-T1,KT,FireHD 8.9,K2, PB360,BeBook One,Axim51v,TC1000
|
Quote:
And that philosophy is standard Sony checklist engineering. The Sony designers figured "Kindle has one dictionary? Hah! We'll throw in 12!" It makes no real difference to the cost; licensing dictionaries is cheap. (Some Pocketbook models are supposed to come with 30.) Lots of companies do that, throw stuff in to see what sticks. Some people see long features lists, preferably with lots of ™ and ® sprinkled through, and they're impressed. |
|
09-02-2011, 10:08 AM | #66 |
Tea Enthusiast
Posts: 8,554
Karma: 75384937
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Somewhere in the USA
Device: Kindle1, Kindle DX Graphite, K3 3G, IPad 3, PW2
|
I wouldn't mind more dictionaries on the Kindle. I wouldn't use them but if they helped others, then go for it.
Interesting numbers for the older Sony models. The fact that Sony did exactly what all the non-Sony users had been saying for ages it needed to do to attract us tells me something. That as nice as the older design is, it is not nice enough to keep Sony in the market. I am more curious as to what finally caused Sony to decide to try and play in the e-reader market. They have a new model out that looks like all the other e-readers in the market and they are finally doing something about their bookstore. Is it possible that they never saw the e-reader as anything other then a niche item and treated it as such? That would explain why they are just now updating to compete with the Kindle, Nook, and Kobo. They are realizing that it is not a niche market and there is real money to be made. |
09-02-2011, 10:58 AM | #67 | |
.
Posts: 3,408
Karma: 5647231
Join Date: Oct 2008
Device: never enough
|
Quote:
2011 projection: 27 million 2010: ~9 million 2009: ~3 million That means Sony had over a third of the market before the Nook came in late 2009, and less than 9% a year later? Brutal. |
|
09-02-2011, 12:31 PM | #68 | |
Wizard
Posts: 2,549
Karma: 3799999
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: O'Fallon, Missouri, USA
Device: Nokia N800, PRS-505, Nook STR Glowlight, Kindle 3
|
Quote:
|
|
09-02-2011, 01:47 PM | #69 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 11,732
Karma: 128354696
Join Date: May 2009
Location: 26 kly from Sgr A*
Device: T100TA,PW2,PRS-T1,KT,FireHD 8.9,K2, PB360,BeBook One,Axim51v,TC1000
|
Quote:
Another report I remember seeing around here had them at about a million and pocketbook at 900k. The numbers I've seen for 2010 are around 12.4 million with 8m being Kindles. For the last 5 months of 2010, K3 was apparently moving 1 million a month. Note that the 2011 projection of 27-30 million is eink reader displays; LCD devices like Nook Color and Pandigital, among others, are extra. To see how fast this market has changed, consider that it took Sony 4 years to ramp up to 1 million per year. (Total global sales up to dec 2008 were 300k. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Reader) B&N did it in one. http://ceoutlook.com/2010/10/27/1-million-nooks-sold/ And then they sold another 2 million in 6 months. http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20048052-1.html So Nook has gone from zero to 4 million-plus per year in two years, and that's only selling to NorthAm. Since over half of Kindles are sold *outside* NA, you can see B&N is giving Amazon a good challenge. Sony? Not so much, alas. Basically Sony lost all their market momentum with the switch to epub and the 700 & 600, which came just as Kindle exploded the market and let in hordes of mainstream readers. Sony needs to sell a *lot* of T1s to get back in the game. Last edited by fjtorres; 09-02-2011 at 01:55 PM. |
|
09-02-2011, 04:52 PM | #70 | |
Wizard
Posts: 3,117
Karma: 9269999
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: UK
Device: Sony- T3, PRS650, 350, T1/2/3, Paperwhite, Fire 8.9,Samsung Tab S 10.5
|
Quote:
To be honest, I never use the Sony dictionaries - it just seems so much easier to use paper ones, that I know and trust, and by now I have about 7/8 different languages, so not as limited . |
|
09-02-2011, 05:06 PM | #71 |
Wizard
Posts: 3,117
Karma: 9269999
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: UK
Device: Sony- T3, PRS650, 350, T1/2/3, Paperwhite, Fire 8.9,Samsung Tab S 10.5
|
2 T1 Models - one naked, one wifi ??
[QUOTE=HarryT;1725763]Thanks, Mike. Yes, I think it is still a work in progress![/QUOTE..
Harry - is this what you got to ? [this sans pics, they didn't copy/paste. I will try to do a link..] I just wonder if they're doing a T1 without wifi for £120, but the other - the "Reader WiFi " is the one they "dont have information available " yet ? Because it does look, as it's laid out on the page, like there are two models, and the "naked" one's price is firm........... Reader eBook For £120.00 Reader™ Wi-Fi® This is e-reading 15.2cm (6.0”) ultra slim and lightweight reader with superior paper-like touch screen and Wi-Fi. 1. Overview 2. 3 model(s) found 3. Get eBooks 4. Accessories 5. Specifications Display products as a list Display products as a grid Sort by: PRS-300 PRS-300 PRS-505 PRS-505 PRS-T1 PRS-T1 Available in: * Black * Red * White Carry 100s of eBooks in your pocket: New ultra slim Reader with 5" display Reader Pocket Edition™ with 512MB memory for up to 350 eBooks The Reader from Sony is the perfect way to store and read digital books. With enough space for up to 160 eBooks, it has a long battery life and amazing paper-like screen. It’s smaller than the average paper back and easy to use. The world’s lightest eBook Reader* Ultra slim and lightweight reader with superior paper-like touch screen and Wi-Fi® Online Sony Store price £120.00 Incl Vat We’re sorry, temporarily unavailable Online Sony Store price Sorry, price information for this product is not currently available. Online Sony Store price Sorry, price information for this product is not currently available. More Info Last edited by carpetmojo; 09-02-2011 at 05:09 PM. |
09-02-2011, 05:12 PM | #72 | |
Resident Curmudgeon
Posts: 73,840
Karma: 128597114
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts
Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3
|
Quote:
|
|
09-02-2011, 05:15 PM | #73 |
Resident Curmudgeon
Posts: 73,840
Karma: 128597114
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts
Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3
|
|
09-02-2011, 05:23 PM | #74 | |
Resident Curmudgeon
Posts: 73,840
Karma: 128597114
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts
Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3
|
Quote:
|
|
09-02-2011, 05:28 PM | #75 |
Resident Curmudgeon
Posts: 73,840
Karma: 128597114
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts
Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3
|
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Sony Reader to be released in Russia (officially) | igorsk | News | 16 | 04-16-2011 04:11 PM |
Canada: Sony 5" Reader Pocket Edition (350) + Cover for $149.99 | derek80 | Deals and Resources (No Self-Promotion or Affiliate Links) | 8 | 11-20-2010 04:01 PM |
PRS-350 Canada: Sony 5" Reader Pocket Edition (350) + Cover for $149.99 | derek80 | Sony Reader | 8 | 11-19-2010 07:38 PM |
Sony Reader PRS-505 officially available in Canada | JSWolf | News | 4 | 05-07-2008 10:06 PM |
Sony Reader at 149.99 700 left | CoryDog | Sony Reader | 11 | 08-04-2007 12:05 PM |