Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonist
And this is somehow different from buying a computer, or a digital camera, or a newspaper..., how?
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It's a question of the rate of change. If you buy a computer, camera or laptop right now, you can reasonably expect it will keep up with the 'current generation' for 12 to 18 months. Sure, there will be better models, but the basic functionality, performance and prices are not changing that much. These are mature technologies and mature markets.
Contrast that with the E reader market where you can currently count the main players on the fingers of one hand, the available models with both hands and the choice of screens with your thumbs (more or less). In the next six months, the number of vendors is set to (at least) double, the range of screen sizes to increase three or fourfold, and the number of 'feature options' available (such as touch screen, wi-fi, bluetooth, annotation, feed subscription) to explode.
The E-reader market has been steadily growing up until Amazon's entry, which has changed everything. The early players such as Sony and iRex are due a refresh of their product lines and the OEM manufacturers are massively expanding their lines. With the existing solid userbase, the requirements for e-readers are being refined to the point where early attempts (and I'm including everything up to and including the kindles here) are likely to be vastly improved by the next generation devices.
And many of those devices are going to be launched in the next six months.
Yes, of course you can always wait for twelve months and there will always be better models coming along in another twelve months' time. However, right now you are likely to be buying into last generation hardware, still at the early adopter price premium. We're at the tipping point and six months will bring a lot of change.