Announcement from EZ Read/Astak Team

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by Gill Batez

Just as an aside, I'm spending some time in China so I thought I might find an e-book reader to take home, since this is where they make them. I was surprised that the prices are virtually the same as in North America.

This has been true for quite a while. Many of us suffer from "the grass over there is greener" myopia. For a variety of reasons, North American pricing of electronics and computers are more-or-less on parity with the source and often cheaper than many places. It has to do with volume, vendor relationships and politics. Plus, North Americans, as you note later, demand follow-on service and support. The small amount that adds to the initial cost is definitely worth it.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.

[twobits]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

This has been true for quite a while. Many of us suffer from "the grass over there is greener" myopia. For a variety of reasons, North American pricing of electronics and computers are more-or-less on parity with the source and often cheaper than many places. It has to do with volume, vendor relationships and politics. Plus, North Americans, as you note later, demand follow-on service and support. The small amount that adds to the initial cost is definitely worth it.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.

There is also a great price variance depending on who they think they are selling to. When I would try and buy something, I was always given a high price, often higher then what I can get it for at home. When I was with a local, they would give a bit of a lower price, but still not a great price , even when I was just standing with the local while they negotiated. When they went in without me they got a much better price. Midtrip we learned the real way to get the best prices. When they claimed to be my tour guide and that they wanted to find new stores to lead the suckers to, they could get significant kickback commision of the price and I got to see and handle the stuff to actually shop for it as well.

[Xanthe]

Originally Posted by Gill Batez

. And all this mysterious talk about legal issues is shorthand for "we're getting our asses sued". Good luck with that.

You're probably SO right!

[Blossom]

That's what I got from what was said too. They are having Legal issues. My guess it will be a very long time before the readers are back or they will never be back. I plan to buy a Pocketbook 360 for my library books once the pro stops working or gets too ugly to use from peeling.

[jpt]

Originally Posted by Blossom

That's what I got from what was said too. They are having Legal issues. My guess it will be a very long time before the readers are back or they will never be back. I plan to buy a Pocketbook 360 for my library books once the pro stops working or gets too ugly to use from peeling.

I'm not so sure about this... BeBook is also out of their Hanlin v5 rebranding, and only recently was the black one allowed for preordering.

http://mybebook.com/5-inch-ereaders/c15/index.html

I think it might just be a shortage in general. It's still annoying, but it might not necessarily be Astak's fault. (That being said, a simple "Hey, we're having problems with the manufacturer" message would be nice...)

-- J.P.

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by jpt

I think it might just be a shortage in general. It's still annoying, but it might not necessarily be Astak's fault.

Astak has been out of stock since August and the rep was advising purchasing through a thinly disguised Astak back-door operating on buy.com at the time -- no doubt dumping the last remaining units.

I haven't noticed Amazon, Sony, Kobo or B&N out of stock for several months. I believe ereaders are still being manufactured ....

[jpt]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

Astak has been out of stock since August and the rep was advising purchasing through a thinly disguised Astak back-door operating on buy.com at the time -- no doubt dumping the last remaining units.

Didn't realize that.

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

I haven't noticed Amazon, Sony, Kobo or B&N out of stock for several months. I believe ereaders are still being manufactured ....

I meant a shortage of Hanlin v5s, not ebook readers in general.

-- J.P.

[Blossom]

Well it could have something to do with the peel issues on the v5. The factory might be the one who's in trouble but we were told there was legal reasons Astak could not to tell us why the readers were pulled. How are you suppose to interpret that?

[Solicitous]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Well it could have something to do with the peel issues on the v5. The factory might be the one who's in trouble but we were told there was legal reasons Astak could not to tell us why the readers were pulled. How are you suppose to interpret that?

Well contractually there might be a "keep quiet and tell no-one" clause, so the factory could be in trouble. I think production has dropped a little on the 5" to make way for the V60 just released/about to be released.

No seller though is out of stock on the 6", but what makes me question a few things is....what about the Mentor-Lite range of ereaders? If the EZRead line were in trouble, why aren't the Mentor still available??

I just think there is some issues between the factory and Astak. 3 months, no ereaders to sell, the future aint looking good at all.

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by Solicitous

Well contractually there might be a "keep quiet and tell no-one" clause, so the factory could be in trouble. I think production has dropped a little on the 5" to make way for the V60 just released/about to be released.

I have a feeling if KFC was having some issues with their chicken supply, and they'd signed a piece of paper not to talk about it, they'd be out of business three months later or turned their attention to some other things to sell. They wouldn't appear to be stretching the truth saying "hold on, people! the eggs are almost ready!".

[theducks]

There may be issues with lack of Source being included with the device that uses open source software . This would affect all Re-branded units.

[jenifer.ezread]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

I have a feeling if KFC was having some issues with their chicken supply, and they'd signed a piece of paper not to talk about it, they'd be out of business three months later or turned their attention to some other things to sell. They wouldn't appear to be stretching the truth saying "hold on, people! the eggs are almost ready!".

I had to laugh here, inappropriate laughter of course.

Many of you have been speculating, correctly, about the "keep quiet and tell no one" issues we've experienced. I promise that if any of the Astak bosses could clear everything up today and put our new 6" devices on the market, we'd be back in business in 5 minutes. I could really be apologizing all day about this, but you all know how much this has been hurting our company, and can understand how many customers we are losing before the holidays.

I want to apologize to SensualPoet about my note on the Kobo (yes, I'm the Renegade Staffer, up until recently I've been writing all the Facebook content). Usually, I try to keep it light for people who aren't tech saavy, and frankly, not too many people read my non-book-review notes. I did not mean to write and "outright lie" when I said EZ Read supports DRM, of course, I was just assuming people knew about proprietary format issues. As for the rest of the post, and my rankings, I was not being especially serious. Most of my writing on Facebook is un-read and ridiculous. Just like my pen name. iPad still does not make my list as an exclusive eBook reader, and backlit screens really DO hurt my eyes.

I'm sorry if my sense of humor confused or made anyone feel like the company is trying to trick them, I speak for myself as a staffer, I don't represent EZ Read directly in those instances. Also, I really did like when we had colors.

[hidari]

THanx for the post Jennifer.... I know you are getting a lot of Flak.... Man the turrets... keep your AA Guns on full alert... Hopefully it will all come out in the wash..... I would like to recommend the V5 to more and more people... still think it is one of the best readers on the market...

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by jenifer.ezread

I promise that if any of the Astak bosses could clear everything up today and put our new 6" devices on the market, we'd be back in business in 5 minutes.

GAAAH. I don't want one of the new 6" devices; I want one of the old 5" devices. Preferably in maroon or blue; not in pink. Black would be okay; don't want white. (Is it, "can't put them on the market" or "can't sell them on the website?" Because I could come to the office in person.) It looks like those might be discontinued entirely.

I could really be apologizing all day about this, but you all know how much this has been hurting our company, and can understand how many customers we are losing before the holidays.

I know, and am sympathetic. And really, really hope things start working, because I *want* to encourage people to buy EZReaders. I several friends who regularly ask advice about ebook readers, and most of them don't care about store abilities; they want to read fanfiction & other user-created documents.

I did not mean to write and "outright lie" when I said EZ Read supports DRM, of course, I was just assuming people knew about proprietary format issues.

EZRead supports ADE DRM, not Mobipocket DRM or the specialized forms that Amazon & B&N use for their ebooks. And it doesn't support eReader DRM (nor eReader .pdb instead of palmDOC .pdb), nor, of course, whatever's used by the ebookwise (I don't think EZReader does .imp or .rb files). No idea if .fb2 has a DRM version.

Gotta be *very* careful about saying "we support all DRM," because the *first* thing most people think that means is "I can use my Kindle or Nook ebooks on this device if I switch." Or the more blurry, "I'll be able to buy from any ebook store with this device."

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by jenifer.ezread

I had to laugh here, inappropriate laughter of course.

...

I want to apologize to SensualPoet about my note on the Kobo (yes, I'm the Renegade Staffer, up until recently I've been writing all the Facebook content).

Thanks for the note. No hard feelings. I tried to buy an Astak unit last Spring but it wasn't being sold in Canada at the time. Then Kobo came out and, when Astak finally showed up, the stores wanted $289 for it ... when the Kobo was $149 and even the 3G international wireless Kindle 2 was still $259. Then the whole business over the summer and this cone of silence.

Good luck (and I mean that sincerely) when you folks actually restart your business. It's a competitive market, and there is room for additional players but you'll have to be better than the established players and/or offer a trade off worth paying more for. And that applies to both your plans for hardware and ebook distribution. There is room for 2 or 3 players; being number 4 ... not so much. It will take capital, vision and execution to get there. Again, good luck to you.

SP