E-reader manufacturer iRex makes new start

[jsway]

Wow, this is great news. But, I hope that firmware updates and warranty for dr1000s continues.

[zerospinboson]

Hm. More info here and here.
Apparently IRX is going to sell their products to companies for rebadging ('private labeling'?), as well as selling their screenmaking expertise to other companies.
No more direct2consumer sales. Can't find anything about them discontinuing the DR1000, though.

[Mackx]

There is a Dutch-site that has contacted IRX by phone. See their article here. I guess that is the source.

[Dulin's Books]

IRX Innovations already signed an agreement with a Korean technology company,

from 'boson's second link

[Gwaihir]

Darn. I'd have thought "business" meant both DR's would continue, but just not get any cheaper. I wonder what they're winning with it. The hardware development is done and paid for and as the DRs where able to run pretty much the same firmware and can therefore both benefit from the same development work, why not continue both "modern" readers?

Aegis, what's your source? None of the links above matches up. In fact the ereaders.nl article leaves a little room for both DRs surviving..

[Aegis]

It's the source that Mackx gave a few posts ago: http://www.ereaders.nl/05081001_irex_maakt_doorstart in the update at the end.

It states that only the DR800-line will be continued, so they are still supported. The others won't.

[Groen]

Originally Posted by Aegis

It's the source that Mackx gave a few posts ago: http://www.ereaders.nl/05081001_irex_maakt_doorstart in the update at the end.

It states that only the DR800-line will be continued, so they are still supported. The others won't.

Hmm, they updated their post. So that is the end of a large screen reader with the ability to scribble. I hope my DR1000 will not let me down for the time being..., at least till some vendor comes with a suitable alternative.

Mark

[tjdean256]

It's interesting. Now that ereaders are becoming more prevalent, people will ask me what kind of reader I have, especially when they see me making notes on the screen. I still think the metaphor of epaper can be exploited to advantage. What I have saved in printer ink has paid for my DR1000s.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Concentrating on the business end sure makes sense considering that the DR1000S and Plastic Logic VaporX have been such runaway successes --- oh wait!

Does concentrating on the business end mean DR1000, or does it mean the original business plan of the company... IE licensing their display engineering hardware (delta controller) to other companies like they did with the PRS-500, Kindle 1, etc and focusing on partnerships like they did with the eFlybook project?

I don't necessarily know if this means that they'll even be selling a device at all.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by Aegis

It states that the DR800 will be continued and that the device will still be serviced. The DR800 is the ONLY product the will continue.
So in short: people with DR1000S's (like myself) are screwed and can only hope IRX will still make the firmware-updates compatible.

That seems to contradict the previous information in this thread?

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by zerospinboson

Apparently IRX is going to sell their products to companies for rebadging ('private labeling'?), as well as selling their screenmaking expertise to other companies.
No more direct2consumer sales.

That sounds like what I guessed in my previous reply. They're going back to the position they wanted to be in before they started selling iLiads directly to consumers.

[Aegis]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

That seems to contradict the previous information in this thread?

I know it sounds weird, but they say the DR800-line will be continued, so that the DR800 will still be serviced. I guess that they'll release no future consumer-ereaders after that. ...unless of course for rebadging.

[Logseman]

If they're going to be a B2B seller, how will the rebadging thing go for them? Their readers were overpriced before, if I remember the comments when they folded. Would a B2B approach reduce costs for the final consumer?

[Gwaihir]

Originally Posted by Aegis

they say the DR800-line will be continued

Yes, your source literally states that the "product line of the DR800" will be continued and other lines will not. But that is ambivalent. It doesn't say the product DR800 and DR800 only will be continued but it doesn't explicitly include the DR1000 either..

The product line, as advertised so far is "Digital Reader", which would mean DR800 and DR1000 and no luck for the iLiads. Then again, they could just as easily means the various DR800 versions only, as that's more than one single model too.

I hope we'll know for certain in a couple of days. I hope some of the iRex IRX employees reading along here will know and be allowed to tell by then.

[Gwaihir]

Originally Posted by Logseman

If they're going to be a B2B seller, how will the rebadging thing go for them? Their readers were overpriced before, if I remember the comments when they folded. Would a B2B approach reduce costs for the final consumer?

Yes, I could. I would allow them to focus on the hardware, their strenght, and leave much of the software and all of particular the marketing, distribution and customer service to other firms. There are surely consumer electronics firms far, far better equipped for that than iRex was.

To get that going on a global scale is very expensive and probably not even worth doing for such a small product portfolio. It was just too much for them, I think. (But you do need the multinational / near global scale to get back the development investments.)