Sony: E-readers 'selling out around the world' - Page 2

elcreative · 12-21-2010, 08:08 AM

Yep, it's that evil Apple again and they are so baaaad at everything that they must be going bankrupt with all that money they're losing...

what's that, they're not going broke and millions of people use their products and services... whoops, said something nice about Apple so I must be a fanboi

and whoever came up with that ridiculous term (some vituperative anti-Apple geek

).

Can't we stop attacking companies for no good reason other than personal prejudices and try to be a bit factually based...

And just balance things out, I use Sony, Fujitsu, Samsung, Panasonic and Apple hardware and services... whichever is easiest and most appropriate for what I want to do...

Quote:

Originally Posted by doreenjoy

Apple = willing to lose money on a product by investing more $$$$$$$ in advertising than they make on net sales.

lack · 12-21-2010, 04:27 PM

what? you mad? who's attacking Apple? Are you sure with what you read?

elcreative · 12-21-2010, 07:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lack

what? you mad? who's attacking Apple? Are you sure with what you read?

doreenjoy · 12-22-2010, 01:07 AM

Shrug. Mine was one of the tamer comments I've seen on this forum.

doreenjoy · 12-22-2010, 01:19 AM

Here is what I found on the coinage of "fanboy":

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/05/17...ogy-of-fa.html

Quote:

Harry sez, "I encounter people--especially tech enthusiasts--dismissing each other as fanboys every day. But I wasn't satisfied with the dictionary's etymology of "fanboy." So I traced it to its 1973 origins in a little-known fanzine by Jay Lynch, the influential underground cartoonist and co-creator of Wacky Packages and Garbage Pail Kids. May Jay get full credit for the pervasive word he coined."

Quote:

To understand the origins of "fanboy," you don't need to go back to 1919...but you do need to start earlier than 1985. Try 1973-when a handful of copies of a fanzine were distributed at a Chicago comics convention. The zine was credited to two fans who took Marvel Comics, the work of Frank Frazetta, and other matters a wee bit too seriously, Alfred Judson and Bill Beasley. And its name was Fanboy."

lack · 12-22-2010, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elcreative

what is it el? I'm getting more confused

jswinden · 12-22-2010, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KenJackson

But if Sony can only manufacture X units, they may as well sell them for the highest price that X customers are willing to pay. That will give them the revenue needed to stay out of trouble.

Sony can manufacture a lot more than what they do. They choose to limit their market share for whatever stupid corporate reason they might have. They certainly have very little understanding of the USA market, or choose to overlook that understanding.

jswinden · 12-22-2010, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lack

what is it el? I'm getting more confused

He is just pooping applesauce out of his back end. Those Apple lickers are worse than the devoutly religious who take offence at anything they perceive as a threat to their beliefs. Which makes me wonder why they are so sensitive unless they already have doubts! They are just another useless cult of people whose minds have been bent to the desires of the marketing demons.

RSaunders · 12-22-2010, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jswinden

I'm sure they could if they would actively market them. They are very good eBook readers. But if consumers don't know they exist, they won't buy them.

The real question is "How many more Sony readers would be bought if they marketed them?". I suspect the answer is "none". Amazon has bought all the eInk screens that can be made, and subsidizes Kindle sales because they have a good online store. The Sony online store has never been something to write home about, so I (for example) buy my ebooks at Amazon and Fictionwise. Sony has to make all its money on the hardware. If they can get N screens and sell N readers with no advertising, I can't imagine why they would want to advertise. Could they really get 2N screens? I don't think they could get more $$ for their N readers. They seem to be in a niche. They sell a better product at a premium price and lower volume. If the Kindle is a Chevy, Sony is a BMW. You don't see as many BMW ads as Chevy ads for a good reason. You only see BMW ads at all because they can make more BMWs than they can sell.

elcreative · 12-22-2010, 01:32 PM

And you're being offensive again, not unusual... if you read my actual comments, they ended with, "Can't we stop attacking companies for no good reason other than personal prejudices and try to be a bit factually based...

And just balance things out, I use Sony, Fujitsu, Samsung, Panasonic and Apple hardware and services... whichever is easiest and most appropriate for what I want to do..." This means I use a wide variety of hardware from many companies because I'm interested in the end result not the manufacturer.

How does that fit into your offensive remarks???

And if Apple offends you so much then how come you use an iPod Touch 4G?

Quote:

Originally Posted by jswinden

He is just pooping applesauce out of his back end. Those Apple lickers are worse than the devoutly religious who take offence at anything they perceive as a threat to their beliefs. Which makes me wonder why they are so sensitive unless they already have doubts! They are just another useless cult of people whose minds have been bent to the desires of the marketing demons.

kartu · 12-22-2010, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jswinden

Sony can manufacture a lot more than what they do. They choose to limit their market share for whatever stupid corporate reason they might have. They certainly have very little understanding of the USA market, or choose to overlook that understanding.

Software on Sony reader is developed in US, actually. I would be very surprised if scope of the project, what features to implement was decided outside US.

elcreative · 12-22-2010, 07:41 PM

Sorry, I was agreeing with what I thought was a humorous comment on my remarks... just realised your comments were meant to be taken seriously...

Quote:

Originally Posted by lack

what is it el? I'm getting more confused

doreenjoy · 12-22-2010, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RSaunders

The real question is "How many more Sony readers would be bought if they marketed them?". I suspect the answer is "none". Amazon has bought all the eInk screens that can be made, and subsidizes Kindle sales because they have a good online store. The Sony online store has never been something to write home about, so I (for example) buy my ebooks at Amazon and Fictionwise. Sony has to make all its money on the hardware. If they can get N screens and sell N readers with no advertising, I can't imagine why they would want to advertise. Could they really get 2N screens? I don't think they could get more $$ for their N readers. They seem to be in a niche. They sell a better product at a premium price and lower volume.

Agreed.

I'll also add that for all the kvetching that "sony doesn't know how to do marketing," they sure seem to know how to market Playstations.

Sony is choosing not to invest marketing dollars in the e-readers. Given that they know the ins and outs of their business far better than anyone on MR, I have to assume they know what they're doing, and that their lack of effort on marketing the Readers in the USA is a deliberately chosen path.

KenJackson · 12-22-2010, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by doreenjoy

Sony is choosing not to invest marketing dollars in the e-readers. ... I have to assume they know what they're doing, and that their lack of effort on marketing the Readers in the USA is a deliberately chosen path.

Makes you wonder if something is up--if there's a plan we don't know about.

WT Sharpe · 12-22-2010, 09:44 PM

I sometimes get the impression that Sony isn't serious about ereaders, which is a shame because their engineers have produced some fine devices. What they need to do is hire some programmers to bring their software interface up to snuff, improve the firmware so it doesn't automatically truncate all exported text, revamp the store, and put some money into advertising. The hardware is second to none.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Best Buy in Canada to be selling EZ Readers	toomuchreading	Deals and Resources (No Self-Promotion or Affiliate Links)	0	10-13-2009 09:05 PM
Newegg seems to have embraced selling ebook readers	brecklundin	Deals and Resources (No Self-Promotion or Affiliate Links)	7	10-01-2009 08:11 PM
WH Smiths selling Sony readers	tech_au	Sony Reader	36	04-29-2009 10:53 AM
E-Readers selling well (?)	Stingo	Sony Reader	23	12-29-2006 06:26 PM

12-21-2010, 04:27 PM	#17
lack Zealot Posts: 113 Karma: 44088 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Osaka, Japan Device: PRS-650	what? you mad? who's attacking Apple? Are you sure with what you read?

12-22-2010, 01:07 AM	#19
doreenjoy 01000100 01001010 Posts: 1,889 Karma: 2400000 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Polyamorous	Shrug. Mine was one of the tamer comments I've seen on this forum.

12-22-2010, 09:44 PM	#30
WT Sharpe Bah, humbug! Posts: 39,072 Karma: 157049943 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Chesapeake, VA, USA Device: Kindle Oasis, iPad Pro, & a Samsung Galaxy S9.	I sometimes get the impression that Sony isn't serious about ereaders, which is a shame because their engineers have produced some fine devices. What they need to do is hire some programmers to bring their software interface up to snuff, improve the firmware so it doesn't automatically truncate all exported text, revamp the store, and put some money into advertising. The hardware is second to none.