Quote:
Originally Posted by Robertb
Dear Harry:
Thank you. What has happened over the last 6 months or so has not been dishonesty... it is a matter of completely underestimating the task ahead of us, underestimating the capability of factory engineers, and overestimating the ease and cooperation of the power brokers (no offence intended) in this business. It has been a humbling and immensely frustrating task. Please remember we started from scratch. We had no prior experience and were not ever selling eBook Readers before. We have had to go from neophyte to "expert" in 6 months.
The Hanlin V3 is a good first effort for us. It is a well-built machine that took EIGHT years to engineer (not six months). We like where it is headed and the company that produces the Hanlin V3 have a fabulous engineering staff with all manner of experience. To be able to work with these people is amazing. WITH this experience available, we can take our ideas to market much faster. Instead of promising something in two years, we can take good concepts and develop that to a solid idea and have it engineered in record time. THAT is the benefit to MobileRead Forum people. Maybe we can finally take your good feedback and do something with them.
Also, we did not try to fool anybody. We were honest and laid it out as a Hanlin V3 only with USA support and inventory and techncial assistance. Now, we have brought out a good solid eBook Reader that can be and will be advanced in short order. We will be able to improve the eBook Reader market by offering unique and interesting features in shorter time.
Is The Hanlin V3 perfect and an end product? Of course not. But... it is a solid and dependable platform and a lot of even MobileRead Forum people want only that. Essentially... "give me something totally dependable that handles all the basic functions well". Will this meet all the needs of the MobileRead Forum audience? Of course not! But wait and see where the future leads. You want additional fonts... we will do that. You want touchscreen and wi-fi and maybe note-taking... that is also planned pretty soon. You are tired of Black and White machines... we are getting the liveliest of colors. You want Adobe Digital Editions... it is in the works. You want eBooks... we are opening our site soon and will sell for less.
I have bought the first EZ Reader that arrived as promised. I am overjoyed with it and take it everywhere. For me, at least, it is light and thin and comfortable... and the crush-resistant case that comes with it is fabulous.
So, please do not see dishonesty where there is none. Call me stupid and I will not argue. Call me a lousy project manager to date... I will not say you are wrong. Call me a disinterested and non-interested fellow... and there we fight. You do have someone trying hard to give you all a voice in the next generations of eBook Readers.
Robert B
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Hi Robert, thanks for taking the time to add that, it needed saying. I've only been a lurker in recent months, but in that time I've watched deadlines expire and goal posts move. I went from enthusiastic to skeptical to somewhat annoyed.
I too dreamed of a practical sub-$200 reading device. I believe you are sincere in your conviction and hope that you might be able to make do in the future. As much as I hoped to, I will likely not be purchasing an EZ Reader. You're price is just North of where I hoped it would go. With luck that will change soon.
Now I'm just back to enthusiastically skeptical.
