Quote:
Originally Posted by SensualPoet
There's a slight detail missing from your otherwise logical argument: that Astak remains in, and intends to remain in, the eReader business. I believe they have already exited: all their hardware eReaders are "out of stock". I DO believe they are trying to find a soft-landing for existing customers, and a practical way to handle warranty on the existing base.
Cancelling forward contracts with manufacturing partners meant no further inventory and the real reason RobertB was let go -- the division was being shut down. But unlike business closure (bankruptcy) of several other eReader vendors, Astak markets many other products and is healthy: it's just not going to do eReaders any longer. So -- it needs to keep existing customers happy within the terms of their agreement -- 1 yr warranty? battery replacement? -- and allow the calendar to take care of the rest.
|
Well, here's the kicker for you. They're *not* exiting the business. Why? They're sending me one of their new 6" ereaders for review. (I am still chief editor for Raiden's Realm, so I still do hardware reviews periodically) Plus I was promised one of their new 7" tablets at some point once it's available for review. That tells me that they're anything but giving up on the ereaders. As for why the site is down, and all content listed as "out of stock", the only explanation I've been given is that it was done intentionally due to the site being revamped. The only reason it's been like this so long is because they hit a snag in the upgrade process, and thus it's taking longer than planned. Originally they only intended for it to be down a day or two, not several months.