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Take a look at what is out there today. Audio Books? I use my Creative Zen to listen to all of my mp3 songs, and also any audio books I want to listen to. After all, any book, if it's not mp3, can easily be converted to such. mp3 Players are a dime a dozen in today's market. So, for me, en ebook reader does not need ANY audio output. Call it Personal Preference.
The Iliad caters to the business minded crowd. Allowing editing of pdfs and documents, handwriting software, I believe. Again, not a real necessity in the Average Joe's reading requirements. So that's 2 features that can be removed.
If Astak would concentrate solely on a READER, they would garner a larger audience. An audience that would spend a bit more to get a larger screen size then the Sony 6 incher. They do not need to compete with the Iliad. Releasing a device which is virtually the same as the Iliad, except for the drawing tablet, is not condusive to taking the market from those with whom the Iliad caters to. They need to cater to those that are not enchanted with the Iliad. The simple reader.
Simplicity is beautiful. Siplicity is all that I want, and from what I've read here, all that a lot of you are asking for as well. Allowing it to access the web and download straight to the device, well, I can even do without that as well. I have a computer for all that. Remove that ability and program, and make more room in the memory for books.
I want something that I can read from. That's all. 9.7 inches of book reading. And maybe a small editor that will allow the users to make changes on the fly, as per misspelled words or such. But that's all.
They could have saved a lot of money on research and developent costs if they'd have just tried to stay simple and given the readers what they want, instead of trying to put everything in that a few might possibly use.
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