"Can't give any comment on release date but..."

[CommanderROR]

Henrycat was online for about 20 minutes just now...he probably wanted to check whether the hype is still going strong enough...^^

[haasiesoft]

Sorry , but i think they a looking for a new "lame excuse" for the next delay.

Only a short message on the homepage "Launch in a few day´s , weeks or whatever " will stop the hype...

[Snappy!]

I'm no psychic but something tells me that its not appearing in May!

[pitcher23]

I have become apathetic toward the Iliad as of late. My anticipation hit a fever pitch at the end of April, but has slowly waned throughout the month to the point that I could care less when it is released. They had me hooked for a while, but if you hold the fish too long without reeling it in, you wind up losing it.

[CommanderROR]

unfortunately I'm still not apathic enough towards the Iliad...i'm slowly but surely getting mad, because every morning I check email, irex and mobileread and I never get the release comfirmation.
And iRex is still talking "in the next couple of Days...we can't tell you more" which is starting to sound more and more worrying.
I wish Henrycat would talk to them and tell them to get a move on...but I guess his influence over them is not that strong after all...^^

[tribble]

this unavailability of the iliad is throwing me into a deep depression. After several weeks of euphoria, my body cant produce any more endorphines to lighten my mood. So i guess i will go an shoot myself. Well...wait.. maybe i just go read a pbook instead.

But seriously, my chances of being right grow bigger (release on the last day of may).
So what is there to worry about. I would like to be right. (unless of course, they decide to open the webshop today)

[Riocaz]

Damnit another day dawns and still no Iliad.

*mutters*

[feersum]

Just a thought from someone who followed the Iliad developments in this forum and other places for the last two months:

Originally, I was very excited about the Iliad, as I really could use a good ebook reader (and new gadget).

But the inability of Irex to communicate in a consistent and honest manner makes me a bit skeptical about the whole Irex package.

If they can't even handle a shop thingy, what about all the other support processes? Like repair, exchange, upgrade automation, distribution of software and media, security patches? Will they be able to deliver all this?

The product just isn't the hardware anymore, it's a lot more - see iPod/iTunes/iTunes Music Store/AppleCare.

Maybe I underestimate the importance (to Irex) of wholesale deals vs. unimportance of end customers, maybe we are just a sideshow.

But, well, we _are_ early adopters and potential multipliers.

However, if the Shop goes live today or tomorrow and offers more than preorders, I'll be just as excited as everyone else.

[CommanderROR]

What i'm really afraid of is, that they'll drag it out into june...maybe nto too far, but every day into june is one too many...
I don't know why, a couple of days don't make much difference, but they clearly stated "black on white" that they would release before the end of May and somehow I find it hard to believe that they will make it, so that promise is practically already broken...well...wel'll see.

[Riocaz]

In an attempt to be fair to Irex.

It's a brand new product. There are often delays when bringing a new product to market. The delays thus far haven't been that bad. I can think of worse. However in those cases it wasn't a product I was so eager for.

And they have only said that they are planning to have the Iliad for sale by the the end of May.

[CommanderROR]

you are right...I "overread" that...^^

[pitcher23]

Originally Posted by Riocaz

I an attempt to be fair to Irex.

It's a brand new product. There are often delays when bringing a new product to market. The delays thus far haven't been _that_ bad. I can think of worse. However in those cases it wasn't a product I was so eager for.

And they have only said that they are _planning_ to have the Iliad for sale by the the end of May.

I couldn't agree more, only Irex doesn't seem to be doing a good job communicating the cause of the delay. If they told us it was due to production or supply problems or any number of legitimate reasons, I could understand, but saying it is due to webshop implementation problems and then not a peep since, makes me wonder if they are not being honest.

I could be wrong and maybe someone can enlighten me on the difficulty of setting one up, but how long, realistically, can a webshop problem take to fix?

According to their website shop link, they also did not say they are "planning", but rather that they postponed the opening of the webshop from April to May 2006. Now they still have the better part of 2 days (At least going by Eastern time), to hold that promise. If they don't, they should be a little more detailed on what the problem is instead of telling us some non descriptive general problem and then nothing for another month. They risk losing some early adopters this way.

[feersum]

Irex-Home:

Purchase of the iLiad ER0100 will be possible via this Website.

Irex-FAQ:

Where can I buy the iLiad E-reader?

Although the business focus of iRex Technologies is Business-to-Business solutions, we will also make our product available for individuals, who can order via our iRex Technologies web retail. (April 2006)

Irex-Shop:

Although the business focus of iRex Technologies is Business-to-Business solutions, we will also make our product available for individuals.

Purchase of the iLiad ER0100 will be possible via this Website.

OPENING WEB SHOP DELAYED!
As the implementation of our Web Shop caused some unforeseen technical problems the opening has been postponed from April to May 2006.

Where do they talk about "plans"?

[Riocaz]

Yup we are eager for this to be released so of course we are all subject to reading more into their statements than they actually have said. This isn't helped by Irex's lack of communication of course.

You will have noticed that my comments have been less caustic recently. This is partially because I have cooled off somewhat (and tried to see things from another side) and because I have re-read their actual statements to ensure I'm not colouring my posts with my own mis-interpretation of what little information they have provided.

Technically it could be argued that they have made no public statement about the release of the Iliad.

The planning comment is a forwarded email. Which could, of course, be forged (I don't think it is as it matches what I was told by phone. Though it does seem a little odd that Loeki only responded to one person. I certainly havn't received a reply to either of my emails about the Iliad).

One was the comment I got over the phone (which could equally be me making it up).

And the other one was a comment by a news-reader who could be wrong or working from old information.

[Riocaz]

Originally Posted by feersum

Where do they talk about "plans"?

In an email which one member of the forum claims to have received from Irex:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6552

Originally Posted by onceways

I herewith would like to inform you that we are planning to make the iLiad available for individual purchase via our Web shop before the end of May 2006.

And in the conversation I had with someone at Irex yesterday I was told that the webshop was expected to be open in the "coming days".

Originally Posted by pitcher23

I couldn't agree more, only Irex doesn't seem to be doing a good job communicating the cause of the delay. If they told us it was due to production or supply problems or any number of legitimate reasons, I could understand, but saying it is due to webshop implementation problems and then not a peep since, makes me wonder if they are not being honest.

Thats essentially what got me to start posting here about a month ago:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...8361#post28361
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...8366#post28366

(Gee wasn't I just so nice in those posts. I have calmed down some since then)

The last public comment they made was in regards to the webshop. Henrycat also made comments implying that there were problems with some of the 3rd party software (the PDF reader if memory serves, but I might be wrong). So we knew via an unofficial source that this wasn't the whole story.