Quote:
Originally Posted by pdfreaderguy
The entirety of the ereader space is a hodgepodge of poor business skills and lackluster customer service.
It creates so much confusion in the market place.
Minimal details from the vendors on shipping times, origin destinations, etc. Things are listed in stock when they aren't really. PreOrder without a even a close ship date, etc.
The makers of the devices are just as guilty. Onyx has a boox note page "coming soon". That page is live, but not on their actual menu. Google picks it up randomly. This thread further tells buyers researching, "boox note available now". Research around the web and you find all this contradictory release date information, never a word from Onyx about the reality (limited regional runs have been released, no one knows who or what stock will be available for their own region going forward). More market place confusion. Vendors compounding it with silence and uninformative websites.
I read news articles about whether ereaders are really going to hang on, or if new tech will make them continue as niche items outside of the kindle. But the average person can never follow all of this and will not take the time to spend their money on a product that might be available today...or in 2 months. Might ship from Germany or China. And then after all that, you pay a premium for the device for silence. Just doesn't do much for the industry as a whole.
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I fully agree with you, but this isn’t going to go away soon. These are niche products, virtually with out competitors, in a niche industry. Ereader Store is the only long standing Western reseller, it’s true that Amazon is now stocking and selling them, but as often with Amazon and third parties, that agreement could end soon. I also think that Ereader Store could have better comms, but they are probably too small to run a full fledged customer service, and demand really peaks at product launches. Probably in 6-7 weeks things will have died down.
As for Onyx, we simply have to stick with them, because there is nothing else like their products, that combination of hardware and software. Things would shake up if real competition, and products capable of same features would emerge from multiple companies, but I can’t see that happening. Unless you have a specific attachment/desire for eink devices, you are a) not buying anything thats not a Kindle b) not spending over 500 Euroes on it. Several friends of mine expressed great interest in the Max Pro, but balked out when faced with the price.