How long before there is a $50 E-ink reader?

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by soondai

My sony e-ink is an orphan. I haven't read a book on it in months.

No way a clip on light or ear light would work half as well. Especially since I lay on my side most of the time.

Covers with lights built in, and clip on lights are available. My girlfriend has one for her PRS300 and uses it all the time.

[theducks]

The display display module price is keeping the cost up

That is the basic $ difference LCD vs EINK (basic models)

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by apbschmitz

I wonder if eReaders will be like inkjet printers back in the day, when manufacturers were happy to give them away so you'd be buying ink cartridges for years to come. Seems to me that the money is in selling the content, not selling the device. So why not make the device as cheap as possible?

1. That would make it even harder for a new reader not tied to a content provider to enter the market. Less innovation, less competition.

2. It would also increase the incentive for reader manufacturers to only support reading their own content. Less standardization, less competition.

3. It would also tend to keep content prices high. People that read a lot of books would be subsidizing people that only read a few books. One more excuse for publishers to use in trying to rationalize high book prices.

As evil as mandatory use of proprietary printer cartridges is, e-book format walled gardens are worse. You can pick one printer manufacturer to gouge you for print cartridges and still be able to do all your printing with a single printer. To the extent that any of the books you want to read are available in only one format and those books are split among more than one format, you "have" to buy more than one reader. (The dead horse of people doing their own format shifting need not be beaten here. Whether or not the DRM wars can ever be won, high stakes fueled escalation can waste a lot resources of everyone on both sides for a long time.)

[Rainmaker]

Originally Posted by RainingLemur

I could see it being next year some time.

We all know that when you think you are innovating; there some chinese guy, in his basement, doing it with the same functions, cheaper, and at a higher production rate.

(DX style...)

[pagansoul]

Technology moves real fast. The Kindle went from about $400 to $125 in 4 years. I think the cheapest style will be under $100 next year.