Quote:
Originally Posted by paulckennedy
I believe that the prices of e-readers is like the price of gas. The manufacturers will set the prices to what they can get. I hardly believe that the existing prices truly reflect the cost of the device and a reasonable profit for the maker. The Edge is a good example when you compare its release price to the existing price of the Kindle DX. The Edge LITERALLY has TWICE the hardware of the DX and easily tons more features but when you compare the prices, they only differ by 10 dollars. Amazon is making a killing on the DX. That is just plain obvious.
For its functionality from what I have gleened, the Edge is reasonably priced for its features. I agree with your price range for the 10 inch readers. I think we will see 5 and 6 inch dedicated readers in the $75 to $125 range .
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It is easy to talk about "reasonable" prices. But if nobody considers the profits reasonable enough to sell at the prices you envision, what does it matter? Of course Amazon is making great money on the DX now. They have to make money somewhere, since they lose a lot on the bestsellers. But the LCD screen for the Edge costs just a fraction of what the e-ink screen goes for, even more so given the current shortage of e-ink screens. So the Edge is not "twice the hardware". Amazon will drop the price of the DX in a few months when the other 9.7" readers start to come out, I am sure. The Edge is so different in shape, the target market is very different. Besides, don't forget that Amazon probably made very little on the DX last year, when they introduced it the screen certainly was way more expensive. They also took a big risk when they put it on the market, Sony still doesn't believe in big screen readers. So now Amazon are recouping that initial investment.
I am sure the $50 and $75 black and white readers (5" or 6") will start to appear once color screens are good enough for reading. But instead of 6 million units a year they will need 100 million or more to reach that price point.