Quote:
Originally Posted by Talldog
It seems like a common thread running through all of these iPad discussions is that they're going to kill the dedicated ereader market, and especially the large screen devices because a) average people will buy based on hype because they don't know any better, and b) people won't buy a dedicated large screen ereader when they can have a device that does so much more, albeit less competently. I don't buy into either of those assumptions. I DO think that they will siphon enough sales to spur on the competition, and that's a good thing.
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I don't think they'll kill portable e-ink devices.
I do think the large screen ones like the Kindle DX, Que etc. are in trouble as those were already very niche devices for people who needed them for PDFs, technical documents, word files (Que anyway) etc. As well as a few people with poor vision etc. who prefer the bigger screen.
I was somewhat interested in the Que, but the laggy and limited markup ability and high price killed it for me. If the iPad is only $500 and does all that other stuff, I figure I should just wait for a tablet with good stylus support so I can get all the other internet, video etc. functions that I'd end up using more than the reading/mark up functions anyway.
But I don't see avid readers deciding to buy this instead of a Kindle or Sony Pocket Edition etc. There's plenty of room for portable e-ink devices.
The large screen ones may survive as well, but tablets like this will definitely take a bite out of their market if they can't get the prices for e-ink screens down to price them at or below the iPad and other tablets as only a select few will pay more for the e-ink experience on a bigger screen and lack of other features IMO.