[Taylor514ce]

Again, it isn't Sony that is lowering their price. It is a particular retailer or two competing. That kind of retail competition leads to thinking: I could hold out and pay $100+ more for an e-book reader that is never in stock to get a feature I may, or may not, use... or I can buy a reader from a retailer that seems to be willing to drop the price $50 or so.

It may reach a point where, because of this retail price competition, Bookeen would lose my business to the Sony product. Price trumps Availability/Features. That being the case, all else being equal, it would lead to Bookeen lowering their price.

As things stands now, though, where most manufacturers are selling every unit they can produce, I seriously doubt we are about to see a price war.

But, I see the cracks starting to form, and they are forming in the channel for the one device that truly has a retail channel. That's how it's supposed to work. For devices with limited retail channels, the price will remain at the MSRP for most buyers.

Since Sony has retailers willing to discount, multiple channels willing to compete, product availability, and various sanctioned methods of receiving discounts (SonyRewards, SonyCard), and since there are methods of obtaining content and converting it to LRF (so that I'm not locked into Sony Connect), it seems like the Sony Reader is the device I'll end up with, once a few more stars align.