Sony's competitive future with Kindle

[carpetmojo]

See other threads, but........

telephone enquiry by self today elicited the response that Waterstones are running down/clearing out Sony stuff, 'cos of failure to reach agreement about supply. You can order it from their "central hub " - but only as stocks last. My local (big) branch are " not getting any more Sony ereaders in".
And it shows, in all the stores I've been in.

Only iRiver and the other one beginning with e - can't remember, are probably going to be stocked.
That's what they said.

God................ how to ruin your business...........

[Leyor]

They are so successfully, they've sold so many, that they have noone left to sell even to Waterstones!

Seriously though, love Sony products. Hate the way they kinda [edit] for themselves as soon as the product is finished though.

[dreadcptflint]

I decided on the Sony for two reasons:
1. The wide spectrum of formats that was able to be read on it.
2. The Touch Screen.

Hardware, my 950 crushes my wife's Kindle with exception of the 3G reception. It is the supporting software where the Sony falls short. It would be too easy make a few supporting programs that would give it an edge over Kindle. I was kind of hurt seeing the Sony displays being taken off a couple of the local stores and being replaced by Kindle. There are times where I feel like I have bought a beta max when the world is moving towards VHS.

[JSWolf]

The Kindle is not the better device. It's the other device. And that's because it's the only device of it's type that doesn't work well with others. Amazon is going to have to conform and get ePub on board via ADE in order to compete. The new nook & Kobo along with Sony are going to have a field day and rightly so.

[PF62]

Originally Posted by Ashjuk

I would love to upgrade it to a 650/950 for the better screen but they seem to be impossible to find in the UK at the moment.

I see that both John Lewis and the DSG group (Currys/Dixons/PC World) now seemed to have stopped selling Sony e-readers, which would appear to leave Sony shops as the only place on the high street where you can buy one, apart from Waterstones, who only theoretically sell them.

And at the same time, everywhere you turn now seem to be selling Kindles.

Personally I would say Sony e-readers are dead in the UK.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Amazon is going to have to conform and get ePub on board via ADE in order to compete.

Amazon seem to have killed the competition in the UK without ePub.

I suspect that if you stopped 1000 people shopping for e-readers in the UK whether e-Pub was important to them, they would look utterly blank. In fact I suspect that if you offered them £10 to tell you what ePub was, your money would be completely safe.

[Ashjuk]

Originally Posted by PF62

I see that both John Lewis and the DSG group (Currys/Dixons/PC World) now seemed to have stopped selling Sony e-readers, which would appear to leave Sony shops as the only place on the high street where you can buy one, apart from Waterstones, who only theoretically sell them.

And at the same time, everywhere you turn now seem to be selling Kindles.

Personally I would say Sony e-readers are dead in the UK.

If this is true then it's a great pity as the Sony reader is a superb device.

As you pointed out it appears the only source of them in the UK is through the Sony stores. I can only hope that Sony are happy to continue servicing the market on this basis.