Quote:
Originally Posted by dsvick
I understand that Sony wants to sell more readers where as other B & N want you to keep using the nook so you keep buying their books, so it is not an apples to apples comparison,
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That is the crux of it all.
Sony needs to sell hardware *and* make money off the *hardware*.
Nook and Kindle (now at $189) can sell at cost or even under cost because their reason for existing is to drive traffice to the ebookstores.
Sony can stay in this business (in North America, at least) only as long as the ebookstores don't drive retail prices below cost. And with the price war on, the odds of that look plenty slim right now. Given that Sony is *not* the volume leader, there is no way they can drive their costs (for equivalent hardware) as low as the store brands. Their choices are to go for rock-bottom price-leader prices and features (like the PRS-300) or try to value-add to sustain prices. The problem with the former is you need to go significantly lower than the competition to sell enough to justify the R&D costs alone. The problem with the latter: tablets.
It's the old rock/hard place situation.
Go low and bleed buying marketshare, go high and watch the share wither to nothing.
They need a rethink. Maybe moving to color LCD?