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Originally Posted by Shopaholic
WTF???
Boycott until prices return to reasonable? Companies are allowed to set their own prices and have sales on their items without asking anyone's permission. But you go ahead and knock yourself out. lol
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Yep, and consumers have a right to organize and pressure them to return the prices to reasonable levels.
As to the shortage of 650s vs availability of 350s, anyone who hasn't been living under a rock for the past few months noticed that 650s were in extremely short supply in the last weeks leading up to years end (and still are) while 350s were readily available.
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Do you have proof that they dropped the price of the 350's because they had overstock from the holidays and 'everyone' was going for the 650 or are you just making wild accusations here?
Did it ever occur to you that maybe they dropped the price of the 350 because there were no 650's and rather than having a potential buyer walk away they enticed them with a really good sale price on their other unit?
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Huh???
How is what you said in the second paragraph fundamentally different than what I said?
Clearly, Sony noticed that there weren't enough 650s - Lot's of 350s - so let's push the 350.
I never said that there was anything insidious or bad about this, if anything, your comment's imply a darker picture, since you are basically saying that Sony was trying to manipulate buyers into accepting something other than their first choice so they don't "walk away".
Like you, I was simply commenting that Sony probably had reasons for wanting to push the 350, I didn't say there was ANYTHING bad about them dropping the price of the 350 to do so.
I'm just not so happy about watching them pushing the price back up, because given the trend in the e-reader market, I don't think such a move can't be justified.
I think the problem is that now they are ALSO running short on 350s, and some idiot at Sony doesn't want to look like twice as big of moron for drastically under stocking BOTH the 650 -AND- the 350.
And lastly -
Yes I DO think this forum has a HUGE impact on Sony sales.
Rightly or wrongly, Sony doesn't have anywhere near the name recognition of the Kindle, nor Kindle's slick national advertising, nor its word of mouth buzz.
Nor do I think Sony's 'brand loyalty' as a so-called 'premium brand' goes very far these days
(I see Samsung HDTV sets selling at parity prices to Sony at my local retailers)
I've had some great Sony products over the years, but just as many that were overpriced DOGS, so there is no way in hell I would pay Sony's premium prices (even discounted premium prices) for one of their readers without doing some research first.
I think most others feel the same way, and anyone who Googles around a little will all most certainly end up reading this forum.
As to why I think that jacking the price of the PRS-x50 series readers back up into the stratosphere, can't be justified . . .
Does the Sony 350 or 650 have the Nook or Kindle's WiFi or 3G? - NO
(the 950 does, but it's TWICE THE PRICE)
Do the Sony's have the Nooks easily replaceable battery? - NO
Or Kindles "Text to Speech"? - NO
Nooks built in games? - NO
The ONE thing the Sony has going for it, other than possibly a small edge in build quality, that makes up for all those other missing features, is a really nice touch screen interface.
Sure, if the Sony had ALL the features above PLUS that 'nice touch screen interface' then they would be justified in charging more than all the others.
But as it is, it's a give and take trade-off, you GIVE UP WiFi, 3G, Games, Web Browsing and wireless book purchases, all to get that touch screen.
I think that this is a GOOD trade-off, and that the Sony Readers offer a good value at prices in the same range as the Nook and Kindle, but does not in my opinion justify ridiculous 'premium brand' price gouging.