My Iliad experience

[Henrycat]

I'm away from internet for a day and this much happens!!

Yesterday i ended up not having time to post anything because i was constantly pulled from the computer every time i finally opened the forum

Anyway there are too many threads so i will start another just for my answers. What i find out i'll post here.

About the release dates

From what i've seen so far the company "policy" was divided among two tendencies:

- Release the device now, and run the risk of being swamped with emails, phone contacts, etc, about people complaining of problems, missing functions, whatever.

There's also the risk that an initial negative impression of early users could kill the device sells.

- Wait and guarantee the device (OS) is stable for consumers, and concentrate in the creation of added benefits (viewers, wifi connection to PC, calendar, notepad, etc)

Seems my emails made a dent, and although they still want to wait, they are posting the final release dates (no specific day unfortunately).

They know that all the delays are annoying the possible costumers, but the feedback from the beta testers (always one more bug), has forced them to delay until the OS works by iRex minimal standard.



About buying the device

There is no shortage of devices, the delays are related to:
- the device OS and viewers
- website difficulties (seems they are almost finished there)
- Organizational, they want to be sure they can answer any questions/doubts of the users. This is a big issue because if they release the device "unfinished" the need for technical support will escalate.

I was told the first users that registered in the webshop would have the possibility of buying the devices sooner than September (500 to 1000).

They will probably receive an email detailing the device status, and asking for confirmation they are willing to buy it has it is.

They will also give preference to european users, mainly to guarantee swift exchange of devices in case of some "major" problem.

I also gave them a pointer to mobileread users since you guys have stated to be willing to go along

Also i don't think there will be a different version of the device for B2B and Consumers.

The difference would reside with the access to different contents (I think).



Release of development tools

The release of the tools for the community is planned for the beginning/middle of July. The main difficulty seems to be they need a "final" version of the OS to create this tools

The device will be able to load programs from the internal memory, but the users won't be allowed to "format" the device by erasing system memory.

So i think you can:
- create the executable program
- copy it to the device/CF/SD
- browse (in it?) to the file and read it

Hope i didn't get anything wrong it this -_-'



Questions and Answers

From Belgium you have to use the webshop.
Yes, it will charge off 120V 60Hz.. Belgian device will have Belgian plug, but with a simple plug adapter it will run in US.

Not at his moment. It should be possible to add that function later

I'll keep adding the questions/answers in this post.

Sorry but i don't have time to go around every thread to post there

[CommanderROR]

Thanks for yiur statement Henrycat!

Be glad you weren't here yesterday...
Now what I still don't understand is how us "early-adopter" are supposed to buy our devices.
The webshop will go online in september if I understood corrdctly, so how are we supposed to buy? A secret webshop or something???

btw...I thin irex shoudl pay you for doing their Public Relations work...^^

[High 5]

A lot of things make sense from the Irex point of view.
Bad reviews can and will indeed kill an otherwise good device.

On the other hand I don't think the Iliad will be a 'consumer' product for at least one, maybe even two years.
Just look at the reaction of the general public to the Iliad in the one or two short newsitems that we watched sofar.
The general peasantry won't have an Iliad high on the wishlist.
All the early-adopters will mostly be geeks like us who don't mind fiddling about with devices, having a crash or two(hundred) an occasional explosion and/or permanent braindamage.
I would certainly and absolutely love to have an Iliad even without all the do-dahs that are still to come.

It is good thing that delays are not because a shortage of devices.
(Hard workers, those Phillipinos)

Too bad that things seem te rely on the OS and other software.
Software-bakers are notoriously slow..

And indeed, CommandeROR, Henrycat should be payed as official PR spokesgeek. Well done Henry!

[tribble]

Thanks for the info Henry!

From a marketing point of view it is right, that iRex dont sell their units to the everyday customer. But as mentioned before, here are quite a few willing beta-testers, who would even pay to do the betatesting I at least would.

I would be happy with the version you got so far. And since every OS upgrade will probably lead to more battery life and more usefulness, i wouldnt mind the unfinished product. I even would like to get an SDK to check that out.

Well, i still want an iLiad as soon as possible, so get them to invite us all as betatesters

Thanks again for your information on whats going on. We appreciate your effort. And while we are at it. I wouldn't mind to see a few more videos of the iLiad while we wait ...

[CommanderROR]

I just talked to iRex by Phone.
It wasn't Loeki this time but some other lady...and she told me there is no way a provate customer can buy a single device before september and the b2b customers will be served in July...???

Now I'm thoroughly confused...Henrycat...can you shed some light on this newest statement???

[Henrycat]

give me some time and i'll try to ask Alex for more details...

[CommanderROR]

sure thing...no rush...^^

[diabloNL]

Damn I thought by "recommended" they meant that you can buy it now but it's better to wait until September.

[Riocaz]

Yeah. Same way I did. It's bloody annoying that they are so vague.

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by Henrycat

The release of the tools for the community is planned for the beginning/middle of July. The main difficulty seems to be they need a "final" version of the OS to create this tools The device will be able to load programs from the internal memory, but the users won't be allowed to "format" the device by erasing system memory.

Hi Henrique! Did I understand correctly that the development tools will be made available to consumers, too? That would be great, though I thought from earlier reports it'll be kept to a close developer circle for hiding details about the internals of the iLiad.

[Riocaz]

I distinctly remember it being mentioned that they were going to release it to the public to allow people to come up with their own home-brew applications/readers/etc etc

[Henrycat]

Originally Posted by CommanderROR

I just talked to iRex by Phone.
It wasn't Loeki this time but some other lady...and she told me there is no way a provate customer can buy a single device before september and the b2b customers will be served in July...???

Now I'm thoroughly confused...Henrycat...can you shed some light on this newest statement???

It seems iRex will use this month to discuss details with their B2B partners and only actually start shipping in July.

Probably to have the latest OS version available (the one with 10 hours or more), and the tools for the B2B to mess around

[TaKir]

Originally Posted by Henrycat

It seems iRex will use this month to discuss details with their B2B partners and only actually start shipping in July.

This situation reminds me one funny story:
One businessman phones to another one and asks: I have a train full of sweets!! Very cheap! Would you buy it?
- Yes of course, says this businessman, how much does it cost?
- $150.000
- Ok, I buy it, it's a good price!

And both of them start looking for.... One - where to find a train full of sweets, the second one - where to find money

[VillageReader]

Originally Posted by TaKir

This situation reminds me one funny story:
One businessman phones to another one and asks: I have a train full of sweets!! Very cheap! Would you buy it?
- Yes of course, says this businessman, how much does it cost?
- $150.000
- Ok, I buy it, it's a good price!

And both of them start looking for.... One - where to find a train full of sweets, the second one - where to find money

Variation on this is the old Soviet guy going to the butcher shop to by sausage. He asks how much and the butcher says "five rubles per kilo". The buyer gasps and says "the butcher across the street has sausage for three rubles per kilo". Butcher "well, go across the street and get your sausage there"
Buyer "but he is out of sausage"
Butcher "next time I'm out of sausage the price will be three rubles".

A bit outdated, but if Iliads were sausage...

[TaKir]

2 VillageReader:
Sausages for 5 rubles per kilo - it's too much, really
I remember the prices

In a couple of years we will remember Iliad's price ($700-800 for ebook device) as a nightmare