Quote:
Originally Posted by K-Thom
Surely no one is considering any loss on selling reading devices. But the margins will vary quite a lot between the hundreds of thousands of items Amazon and/or Sony have manufactured and the somewhat few thousands e.g. Bookeen, Astak or other small companies can afford at one time.
|
Even distinguishing high volume and low volume sales, ebook readers are some of the most egregiously overpriced consumer devices available. I find it laughable that people are happy that we've broken the $200 price barrier for inferior technology and mediocre design (and I'd shake my head at anyone who tries to tell me that color choices make any real difference).
Wodin is absolutely right about why many manufacturers are trying to hop on. They're after easy profits with minimal fuss. Choices may be a good thing, if they're not all just clones of the same 2 or 3 devices. Getting some greedy big companies into the game may hurt sales of the independent clone salesmen, but it may be for the benefit of the technology. Big players will not be able to compete well with straight-up clones of others' designs. Perhaps they'll continue using the same low-grade technology, but will have to distinguish themselves with design and interface innovation. That doesn't mean there will be big improvements...but I can't imagine it getting any worse.