[NatCh]

Originally Posted by KlondikeGeoff

Where did you read that Sony ever said sales were above expectations?

I believe this is the origin of that comment: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9305

And this, a companion to it: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9417

Originally Posted by KlondikeGeoff

In fact, where did you ever read anything a'tall that Sony has published to the general public about the Reader once it was released?

Assuming you mean other than the Reader web site they maintain ....

There's this: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10519

This isn't, strictly speaking, published, but it was an interview with the product manager: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9369

Here's a piece that includes some remarks from the same guy: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9041

And while this didn't come from Sony directly, it did come from Adobe, and it mentions some action and intentions on Sony's part regarding the Reader: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11567

Originally Posted by KlondikeGeoff

The dumping of 1K devices to TigerDirect actually makes it seem more like they are getting ready to drop the whole thing.

They apparently had the same deal on a VIAO desktop too (not $99, just greatly reduced!), doesn't mean they're dumping the VIAO line. Tiger Direct has lots of sales going on all the time, have a look through their listings, and look for prices with an * beside them.


You can put the pieces together however you like, and make whatever picture seems most compelling to you, of course, nothing else you can do.


But let me point out one other, rather significant piece that seems overlooked here: Sony ≠ Gemstar (or even to RCA, for that matter) and things have changed in the e-book front in the intervening time.

It's not just one company trying something new anymore, there are a bunch of e-ink readers popping up now, and there are a lot more options for getting e-books than there were -- if it's not Sony, it might be Bookeen, or someone we haven't even heard of yet. The RocketBook may have failed at changing the world directly, but it put a crack in the ice, and showed the world what might be.

The only real question remaining, as I see it, is this: have the cracks yet spread far enough that the break will come now, or will it be a few more "five more years" time?

I see a lot of things moving in similar directions that suggest to me that there won't be too many more "five more years" before e-books are mainstream. Too many different people are moving toward it from too many different directions. But that's just my opinion, of course. Salt to taste.