I know. I know.
Bottom post. But I just didn't feel like it.
If you feel this strongly, then might I suggest that you join an effort - and I would think, or at least presume, there
is such an effort - to port Mobipocket to a 'generic' e-ink ebook reader. For example, there's Open Inkpot for the Hanlin. Of course, you might find that to do such a port, you'd need the Mobipocket SDK, and you can't get such an SDK without first signing an NDA and you have to agree to not put support for any other DRM'd ebook format in the app. Plus there's the fact that the SDK itself is built around the JVM. Still, the SDK is free if you meet Mobipocket's criteria. (Yes, prior to going with Bookeen, I was researching this information out for NAEB. Further I cannot discuss because of the NDA - none of what I related was part of the NDA.)
If that's not your cup o'tea, then you, I and the rest of us will have to suck it up and wait. That's not a very pleasant experience; still, I expect the communication with their customers is something that Bookeen needs to improve. As someone mentioned in another thread, all this frustration, bugs in the firmware and lack of communication is detrimental to the Goodwill that Bookeen needs to survive.
Derek
Quote:
Originally Posted by cmbs
My problem with Bookeen is very much their communication.
They ignore customer emails. When I got my cybook it wouldn't work correctly. That's a $350 brand new product that doesn't work correctly. I wrote them THREE letters, EVERY ONE IGNORED. That is a problem.
There is no troubleshooting on their website, no way to get help for problems with the product. If they had that, they wouldn't receive as many emails in the first place.
They give out information, sometimes (very hit and miss), to people who write. Important information, like the update to build 538. Again, THAT INFORMATION SHOULD BE ON THEIR WEBSITE, freely available to all their customers.
They give out release dates for the upgrade that they then don't meet. We wouldn't expect an update the first week of April if they hadn't said there would be one. They themselves have created that expectation. AND they're giving the dates out only to some people who write and ask, and again, this should be an announcement publicly made. Of course I want the update to work correctly. I don't mind waiting if I feel they are working on it. I do mind them giving out dates they don't meet, and I think any dates should be publicly announced.
If their communications were better, I'd be far less critical of them. But I still believe the product shouldn't have ever been sold with some of the problems it has/had (before build 538, which by the way, some users still don't know about). I don't think it was thoroughly tested before going on the market (and to believe it was is to believe they put it on the market knowing full well about the problems). This, along with their other behaviors, makes me think they're more interested in sales than in quality.
edit:
Do you need more proof of where I get my opinion from? Look at their blog. They have given out two release dates that have come and gone (to a few lucky souls who wrote and were blessed enough to receive a reply- and who so generously shared that information with the rest of us, like bookeen should have done in the first place), and now they have finally posted two new entries on their blog, and neither touches the subject of the overdue updates. Instead all they're doing is bragging about how many more people are being exposed to their product. How much time have the "two guys in a back room" been devoting to an upgrade in between working out all these deals to get their product to market?
What is the point of these blog entries? To impress us with how impressed others are with their product. To improve sales. They are just confirming my belief that they are far far more concerned with sales than with service or quality.
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