Quote:
Originally Posted by jehane
I think that there *is* a market for such a device. It seems that many of you are looking at it in terms of reading novels or other plain text work. However I would pay $100 for an e-ink device that is good for reading academic papers, especially those with graphs and equations. The ones I read are all in pdf. I am still printing those out or reading them on my laptop since I haven't found my 10.1" tablet a good reading experience (due to aspect ratio). If you look through this forum you'll see plenty of people looking for something like this.
I can also see a need from companies who want to issue electronic document readers to staff, but don't want them to have the added functionality of tablets (games...). I recall a few queries along these lines in the past as well.
What I would look for in such a device:
1. Size and aspect ratio appropriate to display A4 and US Letter at 100%.
2. Good resolution - I can't suggest a figure but journal print can be quite small and it needs to be at least as clear as printing on paper.
3. Light weight
4. Long battery life
Possibly also:
5. SD card slot - for easy storage and transfer of documents.
6. Wi-fi - with basic browser to allow downloading of journal articles.
7. If you want a broader market, ensure foreign language (character) support. Most international journals are in English, but there are plenty of documents that won't be.
I do agree that you need a clear business plan and some evidence that you are capable of actually completing this project. People aren't going to give you money without some assurance that you can deliver.
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What you describe would still cost more and include more features than being offered here. What you want is more to the tune of Sony's Digital Paper, which costs a grand.
I'm sure there's a market, but I'm not sure there's money to be made in it. Especially if the device is so limited that you can only transfer with Bluetooth via printing, not through USB mass storage or MTP.