MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - So is the Iliad really production ready and is the market ready for e-readers?

pdam · 09-06-2006, 11:43 AM

Probably a well worn set of questions ... but as I'm a newbie I'll make apologies if I get flamed ...

I received my shiny new Iliad today, after a frustrating ecommerce process. I'm having lots of fun with it giving it a real testing.

I've been taking a straw poll of normal people during the day, some of whom I saw as potential users in vertical markets (such as doctors) asking would they use a device like this and what for, also what they would pay for it, if it fulfilled their needs...

The conclusion I have come to (after a few hours, enough to run the battery down!) is that the current software stack is absolutely for early adopters only, and the device as it stands would only really be interesting to very early adopters and vertical markets with a real need to fill with money available to fill the need not being an issue.

Who will buy these devices amongst the general consuming public and at what price point? Without a significant price drop, some of the rough edges knocked off (which the current patch release suggests is happening) and extra functionality added (like annotations for PDFs) I can't see this generating a big market ... I can't see people buying it to read newspapers or journals for instance.

I'd be interested to get the views of early adopters also - Who do you believe will use (and pay for) the device at say a $300 price point? And what are the factors that will start to drive mass adoption other than price?

09-06-2006, 11:43 AM	#1
pdam Groupie Posts: 199 Karma: 100 Join Date: Aug 2006 Device: iLiad, iPaq, Psion5&7, Blackberry	So is the Iliad really production ready and is the market ready for e-readers? Probably a well worn set of questions ... but as I'm a newbie I'll make apologies if I get flamed ... I received my shiny new Iliad today, after a frustrating ecommerce process. I'm having lots of fun with it giving it a real testing. I've been taking a straw poll of normal people during the day, some of whom I saw as potential users in vertical markets (such as doctors) asking would they use a device like this and what for, also what they would pay for it, if it fulfilled their needs... The conclusion I have come to (after a few hours, enough to run the battery down!) is that the current software stack is absolutely for early adopters only, and the device as it stands would only really be interesting to very early adopters and vertical markets with a real need to fill with money available to fill the need not being an issue. Who will buy these devices amongst the general consuming public and at what price point? Without a significant price drop, some of the rough edges knocked off (which the current patch release suggests is happening) and extra functionality added (like annotations for PDFs) I can't see this generating a big market ... I can't see people buying it to read newspapers or journals for instance. I'd be interested to get the views of early adopters also - Who do you believe will use (and pay for) the device at say a $300 price point? And what are the factors that will start to drive mass adoption other than price?