Quote:
Originally Posted by Robertb
Dear Andy:
It is a bold move! The Pocket PRO is so crammed with good features and formats and colors and our main competitor in 5 inch is stripped to its theroretical shorts. Yet, they have the name and we do not.
We do not wish any ill will towards our competition. They are also in a major battle. We just want to get the press to wake up and review what is a sterling device. IF they would just review it (are you listening Rob at Washington Post?) they would quickly lose the feeling that medium sized manufacturers do not warrant coverage. Astak fights this daily! People who review computers KNOW the difference between an Atom CPU and a Pentium 4 Dual-Core and can assess accordingly. Most reviewers, I fear, have abolutely NO idea why an Epson Controller is a major step forward until they try it! To them, Touchscreen and Wireless are real benefits... Epson Controller and TTS and 12 formats and six colors are not. There are also, it seems, reviewers who use the Kindle Whispernet as a yardstick ("Gee, if it does not have that it is old hat".
Dropping the price has captured some attention. IF I could just get Rob at Washington Post to try a Pocket PRO and be fair... he would love it. Now, if I tell him we crammed a Pentium 4 Dual Core with 50 inch LCD screen in and he would be here on the next flight.
In this press business, "Reality means nothing, perception is EVERYTHING".
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I would agree that spec for spec, and feature for feature, the astak wins.
but that has been true of almost every sony product ever, there has always been a competitor, and their product is almost always better, but sonys got the name, and they have the build quality. Sonys also got their own ebook store, and the are gonna start trying to be competitive, but still Amazon is still Bigger. but when you get right down to it, Sony is spending more per unit to build, more money on advertisements, more money on the backend, and more money all around.
From a business stand point, that extra 30 bucks a unit would have been nice, hopefully increased sales will make up for the price decrease.
I would personally get the pocket pro if the announcement of the prs600s features make me think a firmware update for my 700 is imminent... that and I lost in vegas.
also as someone who just got back from vegas, Its expensive as hell, sure if you get away from the strip the prices go down, but its impossible to get away from the strip unless you have a car.
Taxis are expencive, 3.30+20c per 1/12th mile +50cents a minute. makes every taxi ride about 12 dollars or more(hell the meter is up to 5 bucks before you even leave the hotel parking lot), to get from the mandalay bay to the mirage(one end of the strip to the other about) might cost 15 bucks, to get to the convention center would be close to 20. if you stay at a small hotel or motel good luck getting a cab in less than a half hour
the tram is 5 bucks each way. and you still have to walk almost a mile to get from your locaton to the tram, than from the tram to your destination.
Buffets range from 25-45 dollars for the entire day, per person. which is the cheapest. but come on, it's a buffet. expect about 15 bucks per person for a restuant breakfast, 10 for fast food, 20 for lunch, and 30 for dinner. if you expect to eat well at all.. I personally pity anyone who thinks they can get a meal for less than 5 bucks.
hotel rooms are cheap... during the week, there is a 250% mark up for the weekends. good hotels start at about 50, go upto 80 a night (120-200 for weekends) all in all, for 2 people, expect to spend about 200 bucks a day. and that's if you don't gamble.
of course you have an 85% chance to make that back (15% chance to loose $1000 bucks or more) if you implore some progressive betting strategies. (like betting 200, 48% chance of you walking away right there with 200 bucks in your pocket, then betting 300 if you loose, now you have a 75% chance about of wining 100 bucks. and then if you loose again, you can bet 500 bucks, than you have an 85% chance of breaking even, a 15% chance of losing 1000 bucks (based on odds of losing three times in a row)
please don't eat $3 steak. I beg you.