Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
Nate thinks the screen has a plastic substrate.
Check the comments.
http://the-digital-reader.com/2016/0...will-cost-290/
If it really has a plastic substrate it may be worth the money to enough people to justify it's existence.
Points to consider:
First Kindle sold at $399. Until the 4 hour price war, when B&N moved the walled gardens to near-cost pricing, ereaders sold at solid markups in the 40% range, typical of their limited market size (you really need to be a heavy reader to justify prices north of $200.)
In the past couple of years average selling prices have actually crept up a bit both on Kindle and Kobo. Mostly through "premium" models. Not sure Nook is selling enough to make a dent and the ebook market is well seeded by now so moving away from near-cost pricing makes sense (for different reasons) to all the vendors.
Now, Oasis: I love the ergo design. It is a fitting evolution of the rocketbook and PB360, both of which I have and love. Ergonomics are important and I'm pleased to see its return to the reader design criteria.
I'm not buying it, though, until they unbundle it.
I agree that calling it a charger cover implies that it will recharge the reader even if the cover isn't being charged. With that proviso, the pricing isn't obscene:$200 for a light ergonomic reader, possibly with non-glass substrate and $90 for an oem leather cover ($50-70) + a battery cherger ($20-30) is about right.
Unbundled they could get away with $229 for the reader alone but the bundle gives them a nice magin boost. They can always unbundle once early adopter sales start to dry up.
It's a standard business practice.
I understand what they're doing.
But I'm not biting.
Plenty of people will, though.
Once they're done voting their wallets and the unbundled version goes on sale, I'll pull the trigger. Until then, I'm covered.  |
Fjtorres,
You may have a challenge if the device is unbundled. It is said to have only a couple of weeks/30 min per day of charge. So significantly less battery than any of the other models without the cover.