Quote:
Originally Posted by Ankh
That, I am afraid, is not so clear to me.
I can see the trend on Mobile Read, but I am definitely not sure that the same applies to the population in general. The previous generation of eInk devices, barring physical damage, is still perfectly usable for reading.
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Indeed they are. But dedicated readers based on eInk technology are following the same pattern as any other consumer electronics.
The biggest expense in producing such things is the cost of building the factory to make them, and the service of the debt you took on to build the facility. The more you make of whatever it is, the broader a base you have over which to amortize costs, and the cheaper each unit can be.
Add to that supply chain constraints. When Amazon and Sony were in the early stages of selling their respective readers, there was one outfit actually making the screens: PVI. There were questions about supply constraints, and whether PVI could produce enough screens to meet everyone's orders. eInk subsequently got licensed to other manufacturers, so scarcity and attendant higher prices were no longer an issue.
It's why Amazon can offer a Kindle model for $139 and still make money, when the earlier ones were almost three times that.
As prices fall dramatically, do you really think satisfied reader owners won't see an opportunity to trade up to a new model which is faster and more powerful than the one they have at a much cheaper price?
I have no idea what percentage of new readers sales are people "trading up", but I suspect it's a fair bit.
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Dennis