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Originally Posted by alism
This is the response about the delay on the irex blog
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I understand the reactions, and we are just as impatient to put our products in the stores but unfortunately there have been some delays that were out of our control. We hope to resolve these in the coming days and at that point we will be able to provide you with an accurate release date. As it currently stands I would say mid-November, but that is not yet official.
As soon as there is more clarity I will be the first to share it here. Thanks for your patience in the meantime.
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This would be the perfect time for IREX to show off their kickass new web site showing off the DR800 in all it's glory and ramping up the excitement and expectation to levels that can sustain it from now until release day. Oh wait, that's the nook. Even Plastic Logic's QUE, with nothing but a profile shot of a glossy piece of non-descript plastic and an announcement about an announcement, can generate more buzz than the dr800.
It's obvious to me that if they did originally plan to update their website to coincide with the original 'end-of-october' release, that work would have been done in parallel, be finished now, and be ready to be shown. But it looks like that dr800 rendering, leaked back in August, has blown their marketing department's financial and creative resources.
The hardware for the dr800 is pretty basic and can easily be matched by any one of the many upcoming competitors. So far, only IREX uses the 8" display (as far as I know), but it's not as if they have exclusive rights to that. IREX is not competing on price or marketing. The only thing left is software and they really really need to get that piece honed and perfected. None of this we'll add that / fix that later attitude. I would expect them to be using this extra time to fix any existing issues (perhaps compatibility issues with BN's not-quite-standard-yet DRM or really really fix the power management) and not rushing to add half-baked features.
They also mention that they have an open platform and I think they really need the support of the community to back those words. I'm talking about user-created applications here, something most other readers don't really have outside of hacks. IREX already has an SDK but didn't really have the install base to get much support, but this may change with the dr800. The android-based nook already has its toes in these same waters, so this is not the time to let things coast. C'mon IREX, talk to us. We're your real customers, not bestbuy.