Quote:
Originally Posted by polly
I share your pain. If I read one more article about how the iPad is going to kill the Kindle... 
I wonder sometimes if those reviewers actually read books on anything, let alone an ebook reader. There are at least a dozen independent book stores selling ebooks to all comers. A reader really needs its own dedicated book store and the ability to buy books with the reader to be successful?
What really baffles me is that none of the reviewers are at all curious about reader software - how it organizes books, if it uses metadata or not, how hard or easy it is to side load and find books on the device. They rave about 3G and assume that people who use ereaders are too stupid to load content from a computer. Sigh... Rant over.  |
Dear Polly and all:
Yes, I think from my experience talking to reviewers that they do not get this whole idea. The Kindle model essentially says: "One format, one wireless device, one eBook store, one choice". I tell them the Pocket PRO has 20 formats and end users can buy from hundreds of websites freely and with our blessing. I tell them people really like this feature more than any other and it makes for a good experience. They do the review and write: "Has 20 formats but I only need EPUB, Astak does not have a bookstore of their own, could be a problem finding eBooks, and not a real eBook Reader as it does not have wireless". I call them and say: "you missed the point" and they say: "that is how we saw it".
Sony was the first but Kindle is the yardstick. Everything is measured against the Kindle. Many of the reviewers own a Kindle and that is their perspective of "how an eBook Reader really is".
I am NOT complaining about "poor Astak"... but I am irritated that so many reviewers are using a Kindle yardstick to measure the Kindle and that same yardstick to measure Astak devices. I, personally, am NOT interested in buiding a Kindle and calling it an "Astak". I think what we are selling is better than the Kindle in many ways. That is just my thinking. But, how would it be if a reviewer used the Astak Yardstick to measure a Kindle? That could be fun. Then we might hear: "heavier, bigger, does not come with a case, has only one format, can buy eBooks from only their own website, thicker, has this wireless thing that ties me only to them, needs an SD card slot, and I need to send the device back to get a battery change ".
I have no animosity at all toward Kindle or their end users and mean no offense here... but a level playing field by reviewers would be nice.