[fjtorres]

The Pearl situation is probably complicated by the fact that eInk has ramped up production through partnerships with other manufacturers (LG among others) so we're not taking just one facility that needs conversion but many. It's been pointed out that even if not exclusivity deal exists, existing Pearl capability may simply be prioritized to the largest customers. And we know who those are, right?

The larger screens are, as pointed out, a matter of risk; KDXG is a no risk commitment to Amazon because they *know* the sales rate of the older KDX and it was just a screen refit, not a new product; the design work is already a sunk cost.

Pocketbook, if they really have educational market commitments, can afford to engineer and market a large reader because the bulk of the upfront costs get covered by the educational buys.

For other players, though, large format readers are a lot riskier; it is a given that the market for them is smaller than for the "baseline" 6in devices. For companies that might be selling just a few thousand readers a month (if that) going after a smaller market with a more expensive product would be sheer folly even if iPad weren't out there offering a multi-function alternative that, in effect, caps the maximum price an optimized pure reader can reasonably charge.

The time to introduce large format readers was last year; there was a vacuum that would have given the products time to ramp up enough market presence and market share to be economically viable in the sub-iPad pricing space they are limited to this year. Next year will be worse as 10in Windows, WebOS, and Android tablets hit the market in the same general pricing range as the iPad. Any large format eink reader that isn't on the market and building market share by next spring is going to be in serious jeopardy.

Until eink gets large color screens out at reasonable prices the bulk of the market is going to go to small, cheap readers; there is room for variety and premium models but not everybody can live in that space. It's going to be crowded.

Until now, the ebook reader competition has been about getting quality product out the door and building brands. That day is done. The next phase is about getting *volume* sales to get manufacturing efficiencies that can keep up with the big boys. Even the regional "national champion" local players are going to have to get within at least range of the multinationals and even deep-pocket players like Asus and Samsung had better be prepared to bleed for market share if they intend to get into the game now.

We're probably looking at the end of the beginning of this industry; now things get serious. Expect to see most of the "dabblers" and start-ups gone within a year.