Thread: Interesting piece on failure of Sony to market its ereaders
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Old 12-20-2010, 06:35 PM   #105
EatingPie
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Device: Sony PRS-500 (RIP); PRS-600 (Good Riddance); PRS-505; PRS-650; PRS-350
Quote:
Originally Posted by elcreative View Post
And why the hell would Sony be working on a years old and discontinued unit... do you expect to have a three year old car fitted with a hybrid system because the manufacturer now makes one?

Cool advertising idea... hey don't bother with any new products, we're going to change an old item because some people want full justification rather than left... and yes, you do mean full justification as right means a jagged left-edge and straight right which is a real pain to read...
Sheesh.

Why do Apple and Microsoft support years-old units? Leopard runs on my 6 year old PPC Mac, for example, and I still get updates. How about non-OS related firmware updates (hardware specific) on Macs, HPs, Dells and Gateways? These fix bugs related to hardware components, and they can happen even 5 years into a product cycle. (The Apple IIe was supported for 10 years, the longest supported computer in history.)

Reason #1: customers want products that last, and stay up-to-date. When you buy any computer component, you are not locked in to a specific OS or Software, and you can get updates and bug fixes. A Reader is no different.

Reason #2: If Sony were to offer better software support for the PRS-505 and PRS-600, I would be more likely to recommend a current model because I know Sony supports its customers.

I have only owned Sony Readers, from the PRS-500, to the 600 to the 650. But I recommend the Kindle to almost anyone who asks for two reasons: Amazon is a "less techie" and easier to buy books device, and Sony does not (generally) software update their Readers.

Right now, the only thing holding me to Sony is their LRF format. I read a random ePUb once in a while, and every time I consider the rendering so poor that it's completely un-book-like, unpolished, and unprofessional. And 100% fixable with absolutely minimal effort.

And to nail this one to the wall, they don't even have ePUB working right on the PRS-600 and PRS-300, which were their primary Readers through Summer 2010. Even if you don't expect them to support long discontinued hardware, they darn well should be supporting hardware that's less than 6 months old.

-Pie
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