Should we mourn for Irex?

[Gwaihir]

Originally Posted by Solicitous

Hopefully something will be suitable within 12 months before I start my masters.

Actually, I find my DR1000 quite suitable for most of that. Only battery life is still an issue while taking notes. The note taking works fine for making some notes in a book, but it drains the battery way too much for use during a couple of business meetings or a day of lectures.

[joblack]

Irex's history reminds me of Plextor. In the last 15 years I bought a lot of devices from them. The CD-Readers from Plextor were a legend. They gave you the best quality. The same was true for CD- and (partially) DVD-Burners.

They were always a little bit more expensive than the average device but you got really good quality.

Now they are getting the hardware from another companies. They still optimize the hardware but it would never be the same.

An Irex reader will never be something for the average e-book reader who just want to buy their 'Romance novels' and never be bothered with more options and functions.

[martienne]

So that's it then?
What's happened to the employees and the source code for the firmware?

[Aegis]

Originally Posted by martienne

So that's it then?
What's happened to the employees and the source code for the firmware?

Ir's not over yet. There still are possible takeover-opportunities. The employees are probably hoping for the best and are not giving up. Gertjan and Pauli are still answering questions and such. The employees made sure we got the RC3, even though they released it on the day the bankruptcy was official... so they are doing they're best.

The sources are available on the website (SDK).

by the end of this month IREX thinks to have some more news about an eventual takeover.

i personally am skeptical about that. there are a lot of companies out there who are in ereaders. if you look to some Chinese websites, you can see a lot of ereaders for acceptable prices. furthermore, the development of new readers is also still going.

why should someone take over IREX? why should they be willing to pay roughly 10 milj on debt?

don't get me wrong, i do hope they will be taken over and that they can continue to operate and make very good readers. so far they did a damn good job and i'm glad to have a couple of those DR800SG readers.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by abeaty

It will be a miracle if iRex comes out of bankruptcy and makes it as a business. They will be competing in a market:

1) with an iPad that is cheaper than all of their eReaders
2) where the closest competitors are selling at a fraction of the cost
3) where their competitors can make money selling the eBooks so can take a loss on the hardware
4) where the latest eInk screens are only available to Sony and Amazon for the first 3-6 months (I just read this on the internet so it may not be true).

They are going to have to figure out their business plan and do it fast.

Re. issue #3: As far as I read, the "big ones" take losses on the eBooks as well. $ 9.99 is widely regarded about 30% below cost. So, their competitors generate additional revenue, but most likely no profit or even a loss.
It seems to be all about market share.

[Gwaihir]

Originally Posted by Franky

why should someone take over IREX? why should they be willing to pay roughly 10 milj on debt?

They don't have to. The company is bankrupt. It is up to the trustee to still make the best out of it. He can sell the assets to the highest bidder. In this case, the knowledge of the employees is likely among the larger assets, which raises the chance that the trustee will try and succeed in keeping it all more or less together.

The bankruptcy does mean that a new owner won't have to honour any obligations to iRex customers either. We'll just have to see how they handle that.

[Logseman]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

Re. issue #3: As far as I read, the "big ones" take losses on the eBooks as well. $ 9.99 is widely regarded about 30% below cost. So, their competitors generate additional revenue, but most likely no profit or even a loss.
It seems to be all about market share.

If that is correct, how long can Barnes and Noble last with the Nook? If they're not making money with the devices, nor money with the books, and they don't have additional products to offset their losses (well, they do... paper books, which is what they're cannibalising when they pump the Nook) it must be a matter of time till they crash. Is something like that happening?

[joblack]

It's really a shame that the e-book revolution clashes with the subprime crises.

Lovely banksters and corrupt politicians - thanks for destroying the independent e-book market.