While I wouldn't want to hijack the discussion away from the LCD vs. e-Ink debate ....
Quote:
Originally Posted by tonyofla
They can’t announce a new model next month can they, just after launching the 505 with Waterstones in the UK and Ireland? That would mean that they were offloading old stock on us. Sony would never do something like that would they?
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They're not making a secret of this, which is interesting because they
have been so secretive about such things in the past. That suggests to me that they aren't concerned about getting stuck with a large supply of 505s they can't sell, so I'm thinking they're likely
not planning a replacement model, per se ....
However, the beginning of October
is when they seem to like to announce new stuff -- both the 500 and the 505 launched right at that time in their respective years. I don't think they'd make such a big deal of simple firmware improvements, they haven't before. It's possible, but I'm thinking it would have to be a pretty drastic improvement to get this kind of treatment.
I'm thinking they must have something up their sleeve that's big enough foir them to be willing to risk slowing 505 sales for most of a month in order to build a little anticipation. If it
is just a firmware-based function improvement, they're going to look a bit silly.
Even adding mobi support (assuming Amazon -- which owns mobi, for any who don't already know that -- went along with it, which they've been extremely resistant to thus far) would be a bit of a let-down from this kind of announcement venue.
There could be some new partnership with a big player, they could be switching to plastic logic displays or something (timing's wrong for that, though), but I think I'll put my money on a new device that's aimed in something of a different direction than the 500/505 has been aimed. I think maybe a somewhat larger display, perhaps aimed at students (note-taking functions and such), or a more professionally aimed device ... but none of that would qualify as a "new chapter" in ebooks, would it? So I'm probably just wishing for what I'd
like to see here.
Anyway, I wanted to get my guess on record, just in case it actually turns out to be right.
