Quote:
Originally Posted by CommonReader
People here seem to fall for the fallacy to believe that they represent a sizable part of the population just because they have met a couple of like minded people in an internet forum.
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People here are not a good representation of the public. They are, however, a reasonable representation of the ebook-reading public, if somewhat skewed towards early adopters.
I have no problem imagining that many, many cellphone/tablet owners would happily fork over $13 for an ebook accessory along with their new contract. Some would even get a contract they'd otherwise pass by, for the novelty of it. However, the majority of those won't be avid readers--who won't think 5 books is a reasonable cache--and after a bit of experimentation, they'll give up on carrying around the extra, somewhat-fragile device.
If the phone had the ability to transfer, say, website articles to the ereader, to show them in a larger font and with e-ink's clarity of display, *that* might get them hooked. But it sounds like it wants ebooks only, transferred through its special app. It won't appeal to avid readers, who will quickly discover that there are a lot more effective reading devices for not much more money; it won't appeal to non-readers, who don't want to carry around a paperback, much less a device with a fragile glass screen. It won't appeal to students, who need more versatility from an ereader than a read-only no-longterm-storage device. It won't appeal to people who bring e-ink readers on vacation because they don't need to be recharged; the 5 book limit makes it a bad choice. Without knowing more details about the transfer setup, we can't tell if it's good for business travellers who want something to read on the plane.
It does look like an interesting device. I just can't figure out who it's *for.* It doesn't matter how cheap it is if its target demographic finds it lacking some essential feature(s).
So far, the best use I can see for it is "hardware-hacker geeks convince their friends with the right kind of cellphone contract to pick one up, so the hardware hacker can disassemble it for parts." $13 for an e-ink screen and surrounding electronica sounds like a bargain; attaching a processor and storage would be great fun for some of the Maker Faire crowd.