the unofficial Bookeen Blog

[GeoffC]

...has the last entry for the English version : February 17th, whilst the French edition has entires of 30 March & 10 April ....

good customer relations exercise .....

[Antonieb]

This product is as dead as dead can be the should totaly opensource it or hire some more developers because at this rate nothing is getting beter.

and the blog is just another way to see that.. no updates nothing.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by Antonieb

This product is as dead as dead can be the should totaly opensource it or hire some more developers because at this rate nothing is getting beter.

and the blog is just another way to see that.. no updates nothing.

not strictly true,

updates for French-speakers, not the English ... so there is life there (somewhere) ....

and the product is Ok as far as it goes .......


cake with cream, but no cherry____
car with wheels, bodywork, but no radio____
pop group, but no backing vocals____
bikini bottom, but no top____

[nelsonescorcio]

Originally Posted by Antonieb

This product is as dead as dead can be "

"and the blog is just another way to see that.. no updates nothing.

Could you please elaborate on that?!!

Yes, the blog does not work - but the problem is Bookeen's inability to actually say anything usefull there. People tend to ask for new features (which Bookeen as asked them not to do in the blog, but instead by e-mail), and complain about diferent issues; Bookeen tend to just say, in every couple of months, that it is listening and an update will see the sunlight "soon".

And I too am mad for the late firmware update and, above all, Bookeen inability to talk to their costumers. But I don't see any dead product (I have my Cybook for one year now and still love it). And the Blog (lack of) efectivess is not a too serious issue, is it? You see, you will always have mobileread...

Now, I can actually say that the Cybook Gen 3 is still, today, and for the vast mayority of people, one of the best choices in the market.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by nelsonescorcio

Now, I can actually say that the Cybook Gen 3 is still, today, and for the vast mayority of people, one of the best choices in the market.

hear hear .....

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by nelsonescorcio

Could you please elaborate on that?!!

Yes, the blog does not work - but the problem is Bookeen's inability to actually say anything usefull there. People tend to ask for new features (which Bookeen as asked them not to do in the blog, but instead by e-mail), and complain about diferent issues; Bookeen tend to just say, in every couple of months, that it is listening and an update will see the sunlight "soon".

Ummm... I've found that people who cannot make routine 'conversation' often tend to be overwhelmed when it comes to actually PRODUCING updates.

And I too am mad for the late firmware update and, above all, Bookeen inability to talk to their costumers. But I don't see any dead product (I have my Cybook for one year now and still love it). And the Blog (lack of) efectivess is not a too serious issue, is it? You see, you will always have mobileread....

But. But. But. But. Mobileread is NOT the official 'source' for Bookeen. Thus we end up 'guesstimating' how long Bookeen will ignore its customer base.

Now, I can actually say that the Cybook Gen 3 is still, today, and for the vast mayority of people, one of the best choices in the market.

And I'm beginning to wonder whether it still is. At least the Hanlin V3 family has OpenInkpot support.

Derek

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by nelsonescorcio

And I too am mad for the late firmware update and, above all, Bookeen inability to talk to their costumers.

This is sounding an awful lot like iRex. A generic problem for small companies is how to support existing products while developing new ones. I take it as given that Bookeen has several new products in the wings. In the end, iRex's "solution" to this was to stop supporting the old product (while continuing to sell it) and in retrospect it is clear they did this months before telling their cistomers. It isn't clear that Bookeen is doing this, but I wonder how much further they can go with a device as underpowered as the Gen3. Recall that Sony orphaned its PRS-500 because of similar issues, and even Amazon is struggling with backporting K2 features onto the K1 (e.g. no table support in the K1). The only counter argument I can see is perhaps the cheaper 5" screen devices "save" the legacy 6" products for a while. It isn't clear that the Hanlin V5 is real, but it makes a lot of sense to release a 5" device just like your old 6" device. Software costs are then shared by both (note that the 5" is also 600x800).

[gerraldo]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

...has the last entry for the English version : February 17th, whilst the French edition has entires of 30 March & 10 April ....

True, but they just tell about 2 companies/stores in France now are somewhat linked with Bookeen and are selling the unit...

[K-Thom]

I think Bookeen is waiting/hoping for some major impact in terms of sales. Even in Germany Cybook devices are about to be sold directly in bookstores beginning in May.

More devices sold means more customers > more revenue > more overall interest in their products.

How many Cybooks have been sold up to date? Something around 10.000? 15.000? We're not talking about sales numbers which could even slightly be compared to the PRS or the Kindle.

In my opinion Bookeen is "on the ropes" in terms of their economic situation. Which means they have to cut corners wherever possible. The new firmware will come if there is an improvement in sales. If not, there won't be.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by K-Thom

In my opinion Bookeen is "on the ropes" in terms of their economic situation. Which means they have to cut corners wherever possible. The new firmware will come if there is an improvement in sales. If not, there won't be.

In my opinion if they don't come out with the new firmware, there won't be an improvement in sales. They need ADE on board the Gen3 to keep it a viable product.

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

In my opinion if they don't come out with the new firmware, there won't be an improvement in sales. They need ADE on board the Gen3 to keep it a viable product.

And they're 'supposedly' planning on releasing ePub (ADE?) support on the 30th. At least, that's the statement of Weltbild??? (It's mentioned up in News.)

Of course, there's NO such mention on either their English or French blog!

Derek

[tompe]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

And they're 'supposedly' planning on releasing ePub (ADE?) support on the 30th. At least, that's the statement of Weltbild??? (It's mentioned up in News.)

Of course, there's NO such mention on either their English or French blog!

Since MobiPocket DRM was not supported in the new device I do not think they will release a firmware update for old devices which support ePub. It will be to much work to explain to customers why their old books do not work.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by tompe

Since MobiPocket DRM was not supported in the new device I do not think they will release a firmware update for old devices which support ePub.

Their blog from Feb 17 says:

Both the PDF and EPUB support will become available through a software release scheduled in quarter 1 2009, more details will follow later.

I agree that it is going to be a nightmare if MOBI and ePub DRM can't be simultaneously supported, and I doubt that they can be unless MobiPocket removes its exclusivity requirement. Amazon is between a rock and a hard place with MOBI. If they insist on exclusivity they will be on no EInk readers in Europe, but it they give it up they will sell fewer ebooks in the US (where EInk devices will have MOBI and ePub and eReader DRM support).

[tompe]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

I agree that it is going to be a nightmare if MOBI and ePub DRM can't be simultaneously supported, and I doubt that they can be unless MobiPocket removes its exclusivity requirement. Amazon is between a rock and a hard place with MOBI. If they insist on exclusivity they will be on no EInk readers in Europe, but it they give it up they will sell fewer ebooks in the US (where EInk devices will have MOBI and ePub and eReader DRM support).

It wouldn't surprise me if this blog entry was written when they thought they could support both MobiPocket and ePub DRM.

[brudigia]

Originally Posted by tompe

Since MobiPocket DRM was not supported in the new device I do not think they will release a firmware update for old devices which support ePub. It will be to much work to explain to customers why their old books do not work.

Which old/new devices are you referring to ?