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Originally Posted by cct1
It's just a matter of time before a decent color e-ink screen becomes available, with reasonable battery life. How much time is anyone's guess.
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And you base this on what exactly?
Let's look at the sad reality: Book reading is declining and thus E-Reading is on the decline. On the other hand tablet technology is cheap and full color. There's a reason the market for e-readers is shrinking and competitors are falling left and right.
In other words, the market for a color e-ink screen simply isn't there. It would never be able to compete on price and utility with cheap led tablets.
That these Leds are terrible to read with is just not that important for sales.
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And I would personally be all over that, if the technology for a front lit screen was even. And that will be key, because if you have a problem with uneven lighting in black and white (I do), color will make it appear much worse.
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I certainy hope you realize that your opinion isn't the universally supported technology driver.
I doubt that perfect lightning would somehow increase the marketshare of Kobo. It seems that people choose between Amazon and Epub. Screen quality counts a bit, lightning counts a little bit... but it's minor (this is logical considering the lack of progress in the technology and the slight quality differences in reading experiences between brands).
A similar situation: in Televisions image quality is paramount to your expereince.. Yet the consumer prefers cheap leds. Pioneer, king of quality, ended it's best TV lines due to lack of demand. Image quality is not nearly as decisive in succes as you think.
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The technology will continue to improve to the point where the human eye is outclassed. It's not there yet, but it will be.
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See above. What you fail to state is the business case behind this. E-INK progress has been slow for a reason. The death of many manufacturers is another sign on the wall. Your wished for technology simple doesn't have a viable market.
Now onto the woes of Kobo:
The reason Karter was dismissed out of hand was the lack of knowledge combined with his tendency to see his own ideas as universal truths
1. Kobo does not develop it's own screens and simply does not have the money to do just that.
2. Thin bezels are not that practical on an ereader. Where would you put your fingers? The usage is quite different from a tablet.
3. The portability difference between 6.8 versus 6 inch is marginal (he difference is a few MM widt/length). Opinions there vary quite a bit (for example I can pocket my Aura in my coats with no issues). On the other hand some prefer a bigger screen to read. It's contention, not consensus. 6" inch is better pocketable, so why not 5"? 6.8 reads better, so why not 8"? This is all taste, not universally held gripes with a product.
What stands is the annoyance with Kobo's software, but even there he forgets that many people have absolutely no issue with it (most likely the majority!)
Add to that the derigotary remarks on people who like their devices and you can only conclude that Karters post was lacking merit and his abbrasive style was a surefire way to lead to dismissal.