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Fugubot · 08-03-2007, 12:01 PM

Sony's price drop and the marketing push is great news in general but it seems to be bringing out more critics than enthusiasts in the blogosphere.

Vox Publica
http://www.voxpublica.org/

dretblog
http://dret.typepad.com/dretblog/

Some of the criticism is old (lack of a backlight, etc.) but some shows Sony's missed opportunity to upgrade the firmware and enhance their product significantly (improved pdf support).

Sony may be reeling from the write off of millions for slow Playstation 3 sales and from the difficult-to-see-the-silver-lining fiasco of the Connect music store. The company may not be in the mood to invest new resources into improving an already released product like the Reader.

This is a mistake. While the lower price will bring in new users, the greatest loss that Sony faces in this small but emerging market is the squandering of its user support. Even those of us who like the device, can't make recommendations to friends without caveats..."Its cool but its file system is crude..." "You can read other document formats but you have to invest time in reformatting..." "You can see a standard letter size pdf but its pretty painful to read on the device..." Rather than helping Sony expand its market, we become a viral marketing force of Sony's own ambivalence towards the product.

Look at the tremendous energy invested by Sony users in the MobileRead forums and yet Sony does not really engage directly with its Reader early adopter base. Meanwhile, more 21st century style companies such as Google, E-bay, music software companies such as Ableton (Live) and Propellerheads (Reason) hold summits with their hardcore users to focus on product improvement. No corporation is perfect but Sony seems oblivious to the positives that can be derived from being accountable to consumers who, having bought the device, are already predisposed to being supportive and hopeful of success. And its hard to develop loyalty to a wall of silence.

I like my Reader but wish it was easier to be an evangelist for the product. At some point, Sony will have to decide if those of us on this forum were merely silly beta testers or if they are committed to the platform sufficiently to invest in firmware improvements and in engaging with its consumers.

08-03-2007, 12:01 PM	#1
Fugubot Connoisseur Posts: 64 Karma: 10558 Join Date: Nov 2006 Device: Sony Reader	Price drop brings out new critics Sony's price drop and the marketing push is great news in general but it seems to be bringing out more critics than enthusiasts in the blogosphere. Vox Publica http://www.voxpublica.org/ dretblog http://dret.typepad.com/dretblog/ Some of the criticism is old (lack of a backlight, etc.) but some shows Sony's missed opportunity to upgrade the firmware and enhance their product significantly (improved pdf support). Sony may be reeling from the write off of millions for slow Playstation 3 sales and from the difficult-to-see-the-silver-lining fiasco of the Connect music store. The company may not be in the mood to invest new resources into improving an already released product like the Reader. This is a mistake. While the lower price will bring in new users, the greatest loss that Sony faces in this small but emerging market is the squandering of its user support. Even those of us who like the device, can't make recommendations to friends without caveats..."Its cool but its file system is crude..." "You can read other document formats but you have to invest time in reformatting..." "You can see a standard letter size pdf but its pretty painful to read on the device..." Rather than helping Sony expand its market, we become a viral marketing force of Sony's own ambivalence towards the product. Look at the tremendous energy invested by Sony users in the MobileRead forums and yet Sony does not really engage directly with its Reader early adopter base. Meanwhile, more 21st century style companies such as Google, E-bay, music software companies such as Ableton (Live) and Propellerheads (Reason) hold summits with their hardcore users to focus on product improvement. No corporation is perfect but Sony seems oblivious to the positives that can be derived from being accountable to consumers who, having bought the device, are already predisposed to being supportive and hopeful of success. And its hard to develop loyalty to a wall of silence. I like my Reader but wish it was easier to be an evangelist for the product. At some point, Sony will have to decide if those of us on this forum were merely silly beta testers or if they are committed to the platform sufficiently to invest in firmware improvements and in engaging with its consumers.