PRS-650 Sony 650 being discontinued?

[SolRaven]

I was just on the Sony sight checking out the 650's and noticed that the black 650's aren't available and are discontinued. This is just after I saw the $75 trade in and came on here to see what you guys knew about it. That all seems fine and well, but why would they be discontinuing such a great reader so quickly?


Click "Compatibility" tab to see what I mean.


http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/...#compatability

[elcreative]

They aren't... it's the black ones in the US... they shipped 'em all to the UK and we've nearly sold out but we've got loads of blue ones as well as silver and red...

Perhaps they didn't arrange manufacture of enough or the black peels... or they're all being sold in Japan with appropriate firmware changes...

[SolRaven]

Originally Posted by elcreative

They aren't... it's the black ones in the US... they shipped 'em all to the UK and we've nearly sold out but we've got loads of blue ones as well as silver and red...

Perhaps they didn't arrange manufacture of enough or the black peels... or they're all being sold in Japan with appropriate firmware changes...

It's the 650, not the 350 so it doesn't come in navy.

It doesn't say "Out of Stock" it says, "Discontinued."

Anyone know what's up?

[elcreative]

Read what I wrote... I didn't say 350 anywhere... as you were talking about the 650, I thought it was obvious that I was talking about the same thing especially as I didn't mention 350 (or indeed 950).

Likewise, I didn't say "Out of Stock," but assumed that the reader would take the point that it might say "Discontinued" if there were none available in the US as they might not want to ship 'em back from the UK and also have to re-flash the firmware to the US style.

Oh yes, the 650's that I was talking about, do come in blue in the UK... and I was also being mildly ironic and a touch humorous

Originally Posted by SolRaven

It's the 650, not the 350 so it doesn't come in navy.

It doesn't say "Out of Stock" it says, "Discontinued."

Anyone know what's up?

[jj2me]

Just a guess, based on
- clicking on the "discontinued" 650 and seeing it is "Coming Soon" on that page
- the improbability of this device being discontinued at this point in its lifecycle
===> bad programming.

They probably wanted to automate that text next to the icon that should say "Discontinued" or "Out of Stock." Perhaps one programmer ass-u-me'd. Or they improperly retrieved the data that would tell which text to display. Or ...

[sbtx99]

I checked a couple online stores, and Target and Frys list the black model as out of stock online, although they both still list the red model as available online. Best Buy has both the red and black models listed as "sold out online" and none of the stores in my area have the 650 in stock.

Just a guess, but with Sony releasing their Reader apps this month, I wonder if they are rethinking the lack of wireless on the 650, at least in the US. Lack of wireless seems to be a recurring theme in reviews of the PRS-650.

[SCION]

Originally Posted by sbtx99

I checked a couple online stores, and Target and Frys list the black model as out of stock online, although they both still list the red model as available online. Best Buy has both the red and black models listed as "sold out online" and none of the stores in my area have the 650 in stock.

Just a guess, but with Sony releasing their Reader apps this month, I wonder if they are rethinking the lack of wireless on the 650, at least in the US. Lack of wireless seems to be a recurring theme in reviews of the PRS-650.

Hmmm, interesting take.

[JSWolf]

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/...52921666257815

Sony made a mistake on the site. The Black 650s were sold out, not discontinued. If you look now, it says Coming Soon instead of discontinued.

[SCION]

Why use "coming soon" instead of "out of stock" or "backordered" given that the model was already released?

[sbtx99]

From the SonyStyle main Reader page, if you select Touch edition it doesn't show the black model, just the red one:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/...eroTouchReader

A search for PRS-650BC on SonyStyle lists it as "no longer available":

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/...yword=PRS650BC

[SolRaven]

Originally Posted by elcreative

Read what I wrote... I didn't say 350 anywhere... as you were talking about the 650, I thought it was obvious that I was talking about the same thing especially as I didn't mention 350 (or indeed 950).

Nope, it wasn't obvious at all. Why would I think that you were talking about the same thing when the 650 doesn't come in navy, and you clearly typed "navy"?

Likewise, I didn't say "Out of Stock," but assumed that the reader would take the point that it might say "Discontinued" if there were none available in the US as they might not want to ship 'em back from the UK and also have to re-flash the firmware to the US style.

No, I would not assume that "Out of Stock" and "Discontinued" would mean the same thing, since they don't, and never have in the US shopping markets. Out of Stock means: We're waiting for a fresh shipment. Discontinued means: that either the product is out of production or a store has no plans to order any more of that style. Since I saw "Discontinued" on the manufacturers site, it would mean, "out of production," at least in plain US English, which is probably totally different from UK Enlish since we clearly can't seem to understand one another. Plus, I can't understand you logic on Sony "shipping back" ereaders from the UK. Why would Sony try to fill the markets in the US from another country's leftovers? Especially one that's 1/5 the size.

Oh yes, the 650's that I was talking about, do come in blue in the UK... and I was also being mildly ironic and a touch humorous

Like I said, we probably don't speak the same language because you didn't sound ironic or humorous, you sounded rude and condescending. Did I do something to offend you, or is this your way of winning friends and influencing people?

[SolRaven]

Originally Posted by jj2me

Just a guess, based on
- clicking on the "discontinued" 650 and seeing it is "Coming Soon" on that page
- the improbability of this device being discontinued at this point in its lifecycle
===> bad programming.

They probably wanted to automate that text next to the icon that should say "Discontinued" or "Out of Stock." Perhaps one programmer ass-u-me'd. Or they improperly retrieved the data that would tell which text to display. Or ...

Good catch. Hopefully, you're right. I was in SonyStyle today grabbing a shiny new 650 and they had 1 black and 2 red 650's out for purchase. I asked the salesman if he knew what the deal was with the website saying "Discontinued" but he said hadn't heard anything.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by sbtx99

From the SonyStyle main Reader page, if you select Touch edition it doesn't show the black model, just the red one:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/...eroTouchReader

A search for PRS-650BC on SonyStyle lists it as "no longer available":

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/...yword=PRS650BC

If you click where it says Reader Touch Edition then you get the same page I linked to already. And it says Coming Soon.

[SeaBookGuy]

They probably don't have a site macro for "returning soon"

[SCION]

I just remember that when the supply of the 900s were low when initially released it would say "backordered"...expected date of availability such and such.