MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Astak Mentor eBook readers with WiFi and Touchscreen (read-only)

Robertb · 07-30-2009, 02:12 PM

Dear ALL:

I was not prepared to announce the good news until the press releases come out next week. Still... you cannot put the cat back into the bag once it is out. Yes, we finally got full release on the Pocket PRO 5 inch. Yes it comes with Epson Controller, 8 levels of Grey Scale, Adobe Digital Editions, Text-To-Speech, displays 12 formats and 20 languages, 400 MHz processor, MP3, and comes in 6 colors!! We wanted to do a formal announcement but everything said is true. I DO want to thank everybody for wanting it so badly!!

NOW, answers to your questions:

1. The website (www.theEZreader.com) was NOT complete as we hoped to announce next week. As such, it is slow and they worked all night on it. They tell me the pre-order is now working for North America. Not yet outside North America.
2. Yes, we do want anyone in the world to be able to order the Pocket PRO. We just did not expect to announce until Wednesday of next week. Our website people worked all night. We will have a solution for outside North America; but we do not have enough web people to do it immediately. It is coming!!
3. The devices are due to be available for delivery in late AUGUST! It takes time to do all the different colors! There are 6 colors and they are done in batches. Be patient and in late August we will ship!!!
4. The beginning price, I am sorry to say, is $229. This is because they are new, because we have the factory working extra shifts to get this out, and costs rose a bit. When you ask for a rush it costs more... but we are rushing it as we wanted to meet the demand as early as possible. I know I said "$199-$209"... but that was our best guess. The colors are costing a bit more and the extra shifts are costing a bit more. The cost of the panel is more than anticpated... $10 more. Is $20 extra so horrible for a brand new machine with all these exciting extras?
5. We are already pretty swamped with pre-orders pouring in. As I said, we were not ready as we did not think anyone would know so fast. Please be patient with the website.
6. We are getting professional pictures taken of the Pocket PRO. They were also planned to be ready for next week! They will be up as soon as they are done. We will show the colors as close as possible. Please be patient. We only have TWO working Pocket PRO in our facility and one is in slate blue and one is in white.
7. NO, you do NOT have to order a 6 inch in order to be able to buy the Pocket PRO. That is a false rumor!!
8. Once you have pre-ordered we will send you confirmation. IF you do not get confirmation please email: rubyl@teamresearchinc.com. Do NOT email her for info on when it will ship, PLEASE. She won't know. Ruby is not prepared for a flood of emails as she has plenty to do. I will keep you up to date as we get closer.
8. Please be patient!! As said, we did not have time to set this into effect fully. The actual announcement date was to be next week!

I am appreciative that there is so much demand!! We are trying to handle it for all!

07-30-2009, 02:12 PM	#2972
Robertb Astak Director, Bus. Devl Posts: 2,560 Karma: 2500000 Join Date: Apr 2008 Device: Astak Pocket PRO	OK, here is the scoop!! Dear ALL: I was not prepared to announce the good news until the press releases come out next week. Still... you cannot put the cat back into the bag once it is out. Yes, we finally got full release on the Pocket PRO 5 inch. Yes it comes with Epson Controller, 8 levels of Grey Scale, Adobe Digital Editions, Text-To-Speech, displays 12 formats and 20 languages, 400 MHz processor, MP3, and comes in 6 colors!! We wanted to do a formal announcement but everything said is true. I DO want to thank everybody for wanting it so badly!! NOW, answers to your questions: 1. The website (www.theEZreader.com) was NOT complete as we hoped to announce next week. As such, it is slow and they worked all night on it. They tell me the pre-order is now working for North America. Not yet outside North America. 2. Yes, we do want anyone in the world to be able to order the Pocket PRO. We just did not expect to announce until Wednesday of next week. Our website people worked all night. We will have a solution for outside North America; but we do not have enough web people to do it immediately. It is coming!! 3. The devices are due to be available for delivery in late AUGUST! It takes time to do all the different colors! There are 6 colors and they are done in batches. Be patient and in late August we will ship!!! 4. The beginning price, I am sorry to say, is $229. This is because they are new, because we have the factory working extra shifts to get this out, and costs rose a bit. When you ask for a rush it costs more... but we are rushing it as we wanted to meet the demand as early as possible. I know I said "$199-$209"... but that was our best guess. The colors are costing a bit more and the extra shifts are costing a bit more. The cost of the panel is more than anticpated... $10 more. Is $20 extra so horrible for a brand new machine with all these exciting extras? 5. We are already pretty swamped with pre-orders pouring in. As I said, we were not ready as we did not think anyone would know so fast. Please be patient with the website. 6. We are getting professional pictures taken of the Pocket PRO. They were also planned to be ready for next week! They will be up as soon as they are done. We will show the colors as close as possible. Please be patient. We only have TWO working Pocket PRO in our facility and one is in slate blue and one is in white. 7. NO, you do NOT have to order a 6 inch in order to be able to buy the Pocket PRO. That is a false rumor!! 8. Once you have pre-ordered we will send you confirmation. IF you do not get confirmation please email: rubyl@teamresearchinc.com. Do NOT email her for info on when it will ship, PLEASE. She won't know. Ruby is not prepared for a flood of emails as she has plenty to do. I will keep you up to date as we get closer. 8. Please be patient!! As said, we did not have time to set this into effect fully. The actual announcement date was to be next week! I am appreciative that there is so much demand!! We are trying to handle it for all! Last edited by Robertb; 07-30-2009 at 02:16 PM.