Plastic Logic delays Que launch indefinitely and cancels pre-orders

[DawnFalcon]

Eh. The integrity of their sales figures is a pretty big deal, afaik.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

The Kindle DX is currently #11 in Electronics sales at Amazon. I don't know if this is as good as ever, but it has to represent a significant volume of sales.

Debuted at #2, actually, right behind the Kindle

[BenLee]

Originally Posted by m-reader

Oh crap, another bloody iPad comparison .

You know what? I've been thinking of buying a new car, but then there's this iPad and I'm thinking to myself is it really worth it? After all, I mean, iPad is out, what are those car people thinking ?
Get with the program people.

HAHA

[BenLee]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

The Kindle DX is currently #11 in Electronics sales at Amazon. I don't know if this is as good as ever, but it has to represent a significant volume of sales.

Are you positive that Amazon does not determine those ranks based on cummulative sales figures rather than current sales velocity?

I sometimes see very old items ranked very high, most likely because they sold a buttload of them when it debuted, and are still making SOME sales so theire cummulative ranking is still relatively high.

[DawnFalcon]

Almost certainly they're based off a rolling sales period.

Consider this: Every single different SKU of an item gets a different code. That means the "top end" is more fragmented than you might think, in terms of electronics sales (and something like a new board revision for the 360 usually comes in a different retail package, for example). Also, Amazon is the *only* source of the Kindle*, whereas other items are sold by lots of places.

(*Okay, some shops, but the vast majority will be direct sales)

So the relatively high DX ranking isn't that surprising.

[darknessangel]

I think it should have been a sign when Barnes & Noble announced the Nook just some weeks/months after their partnership with PlasticLogic. For me it sounded like "You want to release WHEN? Well, in the mean time we'll just go and design, test, build, market and sell one small reader K? Drop us a line when you're done! Kthxbye"

GJMS

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by flyash

Assuming they are not manipulating the sales rank to boost sales.

The sales rank is automatically tracked across Amazon.com. It would obviously be possible for amazon to fake the numbers, but it would be incredibly stupid for them to do so and I don't see any evidence that they are. The only way that they "manipulate" the rank is to have just one SKU for the KDX and one for the K2. This gives them a higher rank than if there were, say, multiple color options.

[fishface]

There's still a way out for the plastic logic guys, they might have lost some consumer confidence but they might still work out as display manufacturers.

[flyash]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

It would obviously be possible for amazon to fake the numbers, but it would be incredibly stupid for them to do so [. . .]

Why do you say that?

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by flyash

Assuming they are not manipulating the sales rank to boost sales. Since they don't tell us how many DX's they sell, we have no way of knowing if the sales rank is truthful.

The best indication the public will have of how well the DX sells is pricing. If they keep the $489 price in the face of severe competition from iPad and all the forthcoming tablets, then there must be a sufficiently large market, even if it is a tiny niche in the big picture, to make at least one large e-ink reader economically viable at a price tag that puts it in direct competition with lcd devices that render pages faster, and in color, and can do a hundred things that the DX does not.

I'm betting they drop the price considerably.

The problem is -- the DX can do what the iPad can't. You can read on it for hours on end. You can go into the sun. It is much lighter and the battery lasts 10 times as long. A netbook can do a million things an iPad can't. Why is the iPad still selling???

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

The problem is -- the DX can do what the iPad can't. You can read on it for hours on end. You can go into the sun. It is much lighter and the battery lasts 10 times as long. A netbook can do a million things an iPad can't. Why is the iPad still selling???

Because it is a good product that does what people want.
Why all the hate?

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Because it is a good product that does what people want.
Why all the hate?

So are netbooks. It is not a bad product, but a netbook substitute, not a reader. Why always throw in "but the iPad can do so much more"? It is not a reader, it is a surfing device.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

So are netbooks. It is not a bad product, but a netbook substitute, not a reader. Why always throw in "but the iPad can do so much more"? It is not a reader, it is a surfing device.

People read with it.
It has dedicated apps for reading, and not just plain text which most people seem to restrict reading to, but magazines, newspapers and comics too.
It has access to a wider variety of reading sources than any other handheld device.
Any unlike a netbook, it is no more bulky than another reader with a similar sized screen, it can be held like a book to read from, and it has a long battery life.
It is a reader, and it does so much more.
It has downsides: cost, bulk/weight, LCD vs eInk and Apple's smugness. But that doesn't stop it being a reader, or worthy of discussion.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

People read with it.
It has dedicated apps for reading, and not just plain text which most people seem to restrict reading to, but magazines, newspapers and comics too.
It has access to a wider variety of reading sources than any other handheld device.
Any unlike a netbook, it is no more bulky than another reader with a similar sized screen, it can be held like a book to read from, and it has a long battery life.
It is a reader, and it does so much more.
It has downsides: cost, bulk/weight, LCD vs eInk and Apple's smugness. But that doesn't stop it being a reader, or worthy of discussion.

My point is, people who considered the Que never were in the market for an iPad. And there are netbooks lighter than the iPad, with 14 hours battery life, costing less and can do a lot more than the iPad. And people can and do read on them, even though they, too have their drawbacks (form factor as you pointed out -- which is a big drawback of the iPad compared to dedicated readers). I was just pointing out that while the IPad can do much more, it also does a lot less in other ways -- fair is fair. The iPad can be used as a reader, just as a netbook can.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

form factor as you pointed out -- which is a big drawback of the iPad compared to dedicated readers

The form factor of an iPad is the same as that of a dedicated reader, so not sure what you mean here? If you mean size, then a big screen means a big reader, that will be the same whether it is eInk or LCD.