Quote:
Originally Posted by barryem
My hope is that companies like Amazon and Kobo and B&N will give up on ereaders and other companies will start making them and compete with the devices, not with the books they want to sell. That's when we'll be able to get choices that match our varied needs.
Barry
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Barry, Amazon is the reason e-Ink reader got cheap. The 'Kodak Model': Sell cheap device and make it on the content.
My 6" Astak was $200 Direct sales only (to keep middleman markup at bay)
Sony was over $300.
Mind you, both just read books. No backlight, WiFi, speakers.
Amazon killed that market, as the were selling 'at high volume materials cost' (I priced a replacement Vizplex display: $85 for my Astak. The price of my K4 which had WiFi and the next gen display)
No wonder other bailed. Nobody else had the volume needed to pull the costs down (I worked for a company that looked into possibly 'cost reducing' e-reader. They couldn't remove enough cost to make it worth while to manufacture)