Couple thoughts on the announced readers
- I'm glad to see that BN is announcing a competitive product. I want BN to exist, not go bankrupt like Borders. Physical bookstores serve the purpose in the society as social gathering places. When Borders and BN closed their flagship megastores in downtown SF and NYC, the cities lost two social, cultural centers.
- I think Kobo is in trouble. Technologically, the US market pretty much can only take two main categories of product (Mac and PC, Ipad and Android), and the new Nook pretty much made the new Kobo eReader redundant. Nook has better technology for only $10 more. If you look at the video of Kobo in Engadget.com, Kobo eReaders seem so laggy. It took about 6 seconds to open a book. Plus, Borders is bankrupt.
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Sorry Sony. You were the leader of the pack. I will always love your devices. Your business model just didn't work against others who didn't need to make money on the reader.
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What is Sony's business model? To sell advance technology at a premium? It seems that the new Nook and Kobo eReader have touchscreen technology that Sony Readers had last year, but still are not up to par with the many of the technologies of the Sony Readers (no landscape reading mode, no PDF reflow). They are basically this years's Sony Readers. (Some like Nook's no flash e-ink beats Sony Readers.) Who knows what new technology the newest Readers will have that'll leap pass the new Nook and Kobo.
Will Sony Readers survive? Who knows. Doesn't look good in the US. They're being cleared from Best Buy, so what exposures will they have in the US? (I remember when Best Buy was clearing a Sony product, the Sony Clie. It was right before Sony exited the PDA market. But then the whole PDA market was taken over by RIM.) Looks like if you want to buy in the US, it's only through Sonystyle stores or website.
Maybe Sony Reader can exist as a niche high-end product. Since Sony doesn't depend on ebook sales so as long as they make money on each Reader sold, Sony can be viable. Still Sony Readers are (now) overpriced. They can't command the premium of exclusive technology. I hope Sony realize they have to price their next Readers lower, and discount the current Readers.
Sony kinda reminds me of Leica, in terms of pricing and marketplace. Premium lens technology, premium price, while other DSLRS (Canon, Nikon) are eating its lunch. (Will Leica survive?) I would hope there's a market for technologically superior products. Maybe Sony will exist because there'll be people with need for an all-purpose reader that doesn't exist to be fed ebooks. I researched for a reader that handles pdfs and other formats really well and found out about the Sony Readers. No other mainstream readers handle other formats so well.