Astak's 5" Pocket Pro $199

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by slayda

One man's spam is another man's lunch meat. There does seem to be a moderator bias in favor of the Sony & the Kindle.

Even if there was (which there isn't), so what?

Just because an "official" representative of a company - with which we have no affiliation - makes duplicate posts of something that has been posted in our forums hours and days before doesn't make his post in any more "official" or "newsworthy".

I wish we would receive a little more respect from someone who is on the verge of abusing our community as a marketing tool to increase sales.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

and here we were told that Aztak's cost was so high that selling them under $200 was losing money? Same spin different day.

I seriously doubt that anyone is losing money on ereaders. As consumer electronics go, these thing have one of the highest margins around. When Asus and Acer can build full on netbooks and make a profit at $300 each, how can anyone not be making a ton of money selling ereaders with no keyboard (to speak of), no hard drive, a processor that's whimpy even by cell phone standards, a tiny battery, an open source OS, etc. for two or three hundred dollars? Build cost for these things can't be over about fifty bucks.

Why do you think everyone's jumping on the band wagon? The margins these things draw can only be dreamed of in any other niche of the consumer electronics arena.

[K-Thom]

Surely no one is considering any loss on selling reading devices. But the margins will vary quite a lot between the hundreds of thousands of items Amazon and/or Sony have manufactured and the somewhat few thousands e.g. Bookeen, Astak or other small companies can afford at one time.

[LDBoblo]

Originally Posted by K-Thom

Surely no one is considering any loss on selling reading devices. But the margins will vary quite a lot between the hundreds of thousands of items Amazon and/or Sony have manufactured and the somewhat few thousands e.g. Bookeen, Astak or other small companies can afford at one time.

Even distinguishing high volume and low volume sales, ebook readers are some of the most egregiously overpriced consumer devices available. I find it laughable that people are happy that we've broken the $200 price barrier for inferior technology and mediocre design (and I'd shake my head at anyone who tries to tell me that color choices make any real difference).

Wodin is absolutely right about why many manufacturers are trying to hop on. They're after easy profits with minimal fuss. Choices may be a good thing, if they're not all just clones of the same 2 or 3 devices. Getting some greedy big companies into the game may hurt sales of the independent clone salesmen, but it may be for the benefit of the technology. Big players will not be able to compete well with straight-up clones of others' designs. Perhaps they'll continue using the same low-grade technology, but will have to distinguish themselves with design and interface innovation. That doesn't mean there will be big improvements...but I can't imagine it getting any worse.

[Musicman]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

Even if there was (which there isn't), so what?

Just because an "official" representative of a company - with which we have no affiliation - makes duplicate posts of something that has been posted in our forums hours and days before doesn't make his post in any more "official" or "newsworthy".

I wish we would receive a little more respect from someone who is on the verge of abusing our community as a marketing tool to increase sales.

The only abuse I see is that of MR is not reporting on ALL devices from companies both large and small.

It appears there is a form of censorship being practiced. There are duplicate posts on just about all devices.

Look at your week in recap - Sony with two articles - Astak with none - Somehow I recall not only the Official Press Release, but also a price cut RETROACTIVELY on the Astak Pocket Pro.

[TadW]

Originally Posted by Musicman

The only abuse I see is that of MR is not reporting on ALL devices from companies both large and small.

It appears there is a form of censorship being practiced. There are duplicate posts on just about all devices.

Last time I checked, iRex was NOT a large company.

[Musicman]

Originally Posted by TadW

Last time I checked, iRex was NOT a large company.

Either they luckily slipped passed the censor, or they are viewed as no challenge to Sony or the Kindle.

[TadW]

Originally Posted by Musicman

Either they luckily slipped passed the censor, or they are viewed as no challenge to Sony or the Kindle.

[Musicman]

Originally Posted by TadW

What can I say, Mel Gibson has nothing on me as far as conspiracy theories go!

[slayda]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

Even if there was (which there isn't), so what?

Just because an "official" representative of a company - with which we have no affiliation - makes duplicate posts of something that has been posted in our forums hours and days before doesn't make his post in any more "official" or "newsworthy".

I wish we would receive a little more respect from someone who is on the verge of abusing our community as a marketing tool to increase sales.

Are you implying that MR does have an affiliation with Sony & Amazon?

[Alexander Turcic]

Slayda, why are you asking?

[slayda]

Originally Posted by wodin

I seriously doubt that anyone is losing money on ereaders. As consumer electronics go, these thing have one of the highest margins around. When Asus and Acer can build full on netbooks and make a profit at $300 each, how can anyone not be making a ton of money selling ereaders with no keyboard (to speak of), no hard drive, a processor that's whimpy even by cell phone standards, a tiny battery, an open source OS, etc. for two or three hundred dollars? Build cost for these things can't be over about fifty bucks.

Why do you think everyone's jumping on the band wagon? The margins these things draw can only be dreamed of in any other niche of the consumer electronics arena.

Perhaps you're too young to remember when the HP-35 calculator first came out at $395. It had very limited storage and no programability but it was the only hand-held, scientific calculator on the market and was probably did not have much of a markup. It was new technology, just like e-ink screens are today.

Now you can purchase a programable scientific calculator for about $20. Eventually ebook readers will also be greatly reduced in price as technological advances are made.

[K-Thom]

Well, even if there are a lot of small companies jumping the bandwagon right now, the customer still will benefit from the current market development.

1.) The more competition, the sooner prices will fall
2.) The more companies buy from some large manufacturers, the cheaper a single unit gets; consequence, see 1.)
3.) The software will distinguish the devices. Stability, updates, functionality, features. As long as the technology itself doesn't show that much of a rapid improvement (and it won't), I'll stick to the company which offers the best firmware.

But at least I'm able to decide.

Back to the current discussion: I also somehow get the impression the MR is in favor of news from Amazon or Sony. So what? Those are the big two companies right now. It's only natural that there is more interest in news about them than in any small company.

I'm not interested in Kindle news, so I don't read them. I'm not that much interestet in Sony, so I just flip through those news. Those are the forums at MR I usually don't visit either. It's quite a large board right now, with space and room for any device and any preference.

[LDBoblo]

Originally Posted by slayda

Perhaps you're too young to remember when the HP-35 calculator first came out at $395. It had very limited storage and no programability but it was the only hand-held, scientific calculator on the market and was probably did not have much of a markup. It was new technology, just like e-ink screens are today.

Now you can purchase a programable scientific calculator for about $20. Eventually ebook readers will also be greatly reduced in price as technological advances are made.

Main difference is that the technology used in these ebook readers is not new and not expensive. Technologically speaking, they're inferior to most PDAs and cell phones. It's not the build cost that is driving market prices with these devices. Unfortunately, technology is rarely what determines the value of a product when it comes to marketing that product.

[LDBoblo]

Originally Posted by K-Thom

Back to the current discussion: I also somehow get the impression the MR is in favor of news from Amazon or Sony. So what? Those are the big two companies right now. It's only natural that there is more interest in news about them than in any small company.

I'm not interested in Kindle news, so I don't read them. I'm not that much interestet in Sony, so I just flip through those news. Those are the forums at MR I usually don't visit either. It's quite a large board right now, with space and room for any device and any preference.

I don't think there's a significant problem with information about products from smaller companies...it's the relatively shameless abuse of the website by representatives from those companies for advertising.

I don't mind hearing about the company's news, though I strongly dislike the way they're trying to weave advertising into it directly. I'm sure that sentiment is shared by quite a few folks.