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Originally Posted by Pinecone
So is this that they REALLY want a Sony, but don't want to pay the price?
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Or maybe they are simply weighing the Sony value proposition dispasionately and finding it wanting? Maybe they notice that other brands now have comparable readers, with better ebookstores, and outsell Sony's metal case "quality" at ratios like 4 to 1 and even 10 to 1.
Now, maybe Sony is happy with a 4% global market share. But if they are, they shouldn't expect to be taken as seriously as other products that people actually buy in volume. The thing about competitive marketplaces is that chest-thumping and grandiose proclamations only matter to the extent that they are backed up with sales. Apple hype can be annoying, but love'em or hate'em, their stuff sells. Sony in recent times has the hype but not the sales needed to back up the posturing. And it's not just ebook readers, the entire company has been bleeding to the tune of US$3B per year for several years.
One more time: whatever we may think round these parts doesn't matter; what matters is what Sony does and the results they get. Last year they said they wouldn't compete on price and backed it up by shipping products that were priced 33% and more above the competiton. The result was 25% less sales worldwide.
This year, they dropped the entire "quality" line and are now shipping a product much like their epub competitors', priced much like theirs. That is not up for debate. Same size, same screen, same touch sensor tech, same drm...
Compared to last year's "quality" line, the biggest most notable positive change is the price drop.
*Some* might say that is the very definition of competing on price, but at this point it's all just semantics.
And the issue at stake isn't semantics, but sales.
If the T1 sells in volume, which it should, then Sony will still matter; they'll be a player.
If, for some reason, it still doesn't....
Well, that's a whole other topic.
