Have to question Sony

[jerryleejr]

You know I have been a die hard sony fan since the 505 was introduced, And I'm not bashing the company by no means I still think they make the best reader hardware, But the last model release has been very shaky, They have already started discontinuing accessories, and lets not forget that the 650 seems to be MIA in alot of retail stores as well as back ordered online. It almost leads me to start looking for a different camp. Or even dare I say go with just an ipad. Unfortunately I am really vested in books for Sony. Maybe just frustrated with my own experiences of late two DOA 650's one recalled 950 and now issues with price matching on another 950. So just venting I guess.

JJ

[JSWolf]

The black 650 is out of stock. The red is not. I would have to say that Sony is selling a lot of black 650s.

[Lilly]

It's a switch. Just a few weeks ago, the red PRS-650 was out of stock for a long time and only the black was available. With valentines day coming up, I thing Sony upped their red & pink reader stock. The problem with stock started happening when Sony went back to the Japanese market. I see it as a good sign that Sony is selling a lot of readers. It probably takes time to up their production quota.

[delphin]

I think Sony underestimated the sales potential of the PRS-650.

Even when PRS-650s were widely available $199, there was no denying that this price was a little on the steep side with Amazon dropping the price of the Kindle to $139, and refurbed Nooks and Kindle 3's available for as little as $99.

Also, with the PRS-650 lacking WiFi or 3G, there was probably some doubt about how marketable it would be against it's wireless capable competitors.

It's smaller cousin the PRS-350, at $150 or more retail, while lacking the 650's MP3 and external Memory Card slots, seems to have been fighting an up hill battle, and did not exactly fly off the shelves, but for some reason the PRS-650 sold out very quickly.

I would guess that Sony probably did pessimistically under-stock the 650 over the holidays, not realizing that it would sell out so quickly due to the simple fact that their competitors just don't have anything even close to the 350/650/950 series' elegant IR touch screen interface.

[Xanthe]

I've been watching the 650 on the Dell site. It's been out of stock for quite a while now.

BTW, they have the 350 for $125.00.

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by Lilly

It's a switch. Just a few weeks ago, the red PRS-650 was out of stock for a long time and only the black was available. With valentines day coming up, I thing Sony upped their red & pink reader stock. The problem with stock started happening when Sony went back to the Japanese market.

Contrary to announcements, there don't seem to be any readers, Sony or otherwise, being sold here in Japan. Perhaps there are some in the Tokyo area, but not in the rest of the county. Fujitsu 'was supposed to' sell here, and Sony 'talked about' selling here, but to date, we can not locate a single real source of e-book readers being sold here, only on-line mentions of it.

I think the problem is that 7 out of 10 Japanese people already have their eyes glued to their mobile phones. I never see Manga being read on the trains any more, and only the younger kids are using Game Boys. Everyone else is very busy reading their mobile phone!


Stitchawl

[mcrmama]

All Sony 650's are backordered until Mar 1st on the Sonystyle.ca. The covers with light are backordered until March 22nd. My mil wants one but it won't be in time for her trip. She is going to the US though so might check there.

[kartu]

It seems I was lucky to get 650 in December. (even though it was listed as backordered till end of Jan)

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Contrary to announcements, there don't seem to be any readers, Sony or otherwise, being sold here in Japan. Perhaps there are some in the Tokyo area, but not in the rest of the county. Fujitsu 'was supposed to' sell here, and Sony 'talked about' selling here, but to date, we can not locate a single real source of e-book readers being sold here, only on-line mentions of it.

Did you check (pardon my ignorance) http://www.sony.jp/reader/ ?

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Contrary to announcements, there don't seem to be any readers, Sony or otherwise, being sold here in Japan. Perhaps there are some in the Tokyo area, but not in the rest of the county. Fujitsu 'was supposed to' sell here, and Sony 'talked about' selling here, but to date, we can not locate a single real source of e-book readers being sold here, only on-line mentions of it.

I think the problem is that 7 out of 10 Japanese people already have their eyes glued to their mobile phones. I never see Manga being read on the trains any more, and only the younger kids are using Game Boys. Everyone else is very busy reading their mobile phone!


Stitchawl

Stitchawl, here are a few threads from people in Japan that you might want to read.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=108398
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=109151

[dordale]

When I checked just a few minutes ago, the 650s were available at the US Sony Style store. But the only covers listed were the zippered cover. They don't even have links for the lighted or "traditional" cover.

I'm very glad I got the lighted cover when I did--although I think it's overpriced at $50, I do use my light quite a bit for late night reading.

dordale

[ArmadilloPilot]

I ordered mine 10 days ago from Sony. No problem. Got it last week -- only delayed 2 days because of the 2011 Blizzard event. Didn't know there might be a supply problem before or after, so I consider myself very lucky.