MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Sony PRS-650 discontinued, new model soon?

porkupan · 02-02-2011, 02:13 PM

I would bet against "discontinued". Supply problems - yes.

SonyStyle and some resellers listed the Readers as "discontinued", but that appears to have been a bug in their inventory system. It is also possible that the country-centric SonyStyle operations are so separated from the actual manufacturing and supply (headquartered in Japan?) that there is virtually no communication of facts between the two. The lack of expected availability date in the relatively near future automatically triggers the "discontinued" notice in the store. Right now the 650 covers are listed as discontinued, but the Readers have been arriving back in stock, and I know for a fact that those are the newly manufactured units, not the returns from the field.

I think it's a rather safe assumption that the covers will follow. Why they weren't reordered in time is a very good question. Perhaps Sony is looking to roll out a new cover, but I don't know if that is the case. The sales associates at SonyStyle don't know either.

Sony seems to be hoarding the Readers right now, selling mostly from their own online operation, not shipping to any authorized retailers. Perhaps they are waiting for the shipment of covers to arrive from China.

Amazon, of course, is also having problems with keeping the covers in stock, but for a different reason. The covers apparently were found defective, causing a static discharge and resetting the Kindles. So Amazon is recalling the regular covers and anyone who wants a new cover-with-the-light can now get it from them for free provided they have a proof of owning an actual Kindle.

02-02-2011, 02:13 PM	#85
porkupan Fanatic Posts: 556 Karma: 1057213 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: North Eastern U.S. Device: Sony Reader	I would bet against "discontinued". Supply problems - yes. SonyStyle and some resellers listed the Readers as "discontinued", but that appears to have been a bug in their inventory system. It is also possible that the country-centric SonyStyle operations are so separated from the actual manufacturing and supply (headquartered in Japan?) that there is virtually no communication of facts between the two. The lack of expected availability date in the relatively near future automatically triggers the "discontinued" notice in the store. Right now the 650 covers are listed as discontinued, but the Readers have been arriving back in stock, and I know for a fact that those are the newly manufactured units, not the returns from the field. I think it's a rather safe assumption that the covers will follow. Why they weren't reordered in time is a very good question. Perhaps Sony is looking to roll out a new cover, but I don't know if that is the case. The sales associates at SonyStyle don't know either. Sony seems to be hoarding the Readers right now, selling mostly from their own online operation, not shipping to any authorized retailers. Perhaps they are waiting for the shipment of covers to arrive from China. Amazon, of course, is also having problems with keeping the covers in stock, but for a different reason. The covers apparently were found defective, causing a static discharge and resetting the Kindles. So Amazon is recalling the regular covers and anyone who wants a new cover-with-the-light can now get it from them for free provided they have a proof of owning an actual Kindle.