Ectaco jetBook Mini?!?!?!

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

I was trying to tease a little more "guessable" info from the photo as you were typing that about the PocketBook 360-- the buttons on the "Jetbook Mini" looked kind of large, so I found a PocketBook 360 image and scaled it to roughly match the "Jetbook Mini."

Uh, good try.
But that is not the shipping PB360; that was an early prototype.
The real 360 has slightly different dimensions and a different look.

As to size, I would guess it is a Jetbook Lite replacement (5") and I would not *assume* the price to be lower than the current product. It might.

But $80 sounds a tad... ambitious. $99-$119 list may be more realistic.

[Kris777]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

Stanza is iPhone only, so you probably want Aldiko.

Aldiko or many others eBook clients for the Android operating system

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by Kris777

Aldiko or many others eBook clients for the Android operating system

If you have the best, why would you go with something else?

[Kris777]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

If you have the best, why would you go with something else?

I don't have Android cell phone but I have FBreader on my Nokia810 and I think that my first choice is FBreader.

[Zyzomys]

But $80 sounds a tad... ambitious. $99-$119 list may be more realistic.

Really? We have seen refurbished Kindle 2s for $109, Borders sells the Kobo at $149 plus a $20 Gift Card (and this price is going to have to drop in the US) plus the Aluratek Libre is also sold at Borders for $120. I think we are now looking at a race for the cheapest eReader possible so they can be displayed in blister-packs and sold in every book and card aisle in America (outside of actual bookstores).

[LuBiB]

Originally Posted by Zyzomys

Really? We have seen refurbished Kindle 2s for $109, Borders sells the Kobo at $149 plus a $20 Gift Card (and this price is going to have to drop in the US) plus the Aluratek Libre is also sold at Borders for $120. I think we are now looking at a race for the cheapest eReader possible so they can be displayed in blister-packs and sold in every book and card aisle in America (outside of actual bookstores).

im excited to see what the real price is gonna be.

the color line makes it a lot more friendly and personaliz-able (lol) for those looking to stand out with an eReader

[LuBiB]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

I was trying to tease a little more "guessable" info from the photo as you were typing that about the PocketBook 360-- the buttons on the "Jetbook Mini" looked kind of large, so I found a PocketBook 360 image and scaled it to roughly match the "Jetbook Mini." Turns out that the buttons are close to the same size-- those on the "Jetbook Mini" look proportionately larger, but that could be just an artifact of the imperfect scaling.

wow, amazing paste job ardeegee!

since it is a bit zoomed and enlarged i wonder what the real size would be.

Also, i found the PB to have the folllowing size:

Size without cover
4.6” x 5.5” x 0.39”
118 x 140 x 10 mm

And since the jetBooks are always made to be pocketable i think this one should even MORE portable than the predecessors.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Zyzomys

I think we are now looking at a race for the cheapest eReader possible so they can be displayed in blister-packs and sold in every book and card aisle in America (outside of actual bookstores).

There *is* a race to the bottom.
But what I'm talking about is list price for a *new* reader; not refurbs, not sale prices. The product's baseline.
An $80 list price is unlikely.

Even $99 list is questionable; these are B&M retail readers so they need plenty of "list price margin" to allow discounting. For example, the Sony PRS-300 came out at $229 list and was generally discounted to $199. Right now it lists for $149 and can occasionaly go on sale for $129 or so.

The problem with quoting sale and refurb prices is they aren't always available. Those $109 Kindles? They came and went twice in 3 days. Their price is more a reflection of Amazon's inventory and less of the state of the market.

Now, the JBM looks to be a B&M retail product, probably tied to a Target/Eveready promo. (A sign of things to come; product tying.) It's not going to do Target much good to say "list price $99---sale price $99". On the other hand; "List price $129. Now on sale $99" adds a sense of urgency to the deal. Consumers generally expect sales and will more often than not wait for one, unless they're in a rush.

The JBL is still listed as $149 which makes the regular retail prices of $99-129 look good. If the JBM is a replacement for the JBL, a $129 list would be about right and it could regularly go on sale for $99. Which is about right for today's retail market. Beyond that, it's anybody's guess. (At least until K3 ships.)

[davidspitzer]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Stanza on Android? I can't find it, where can it be found?

My bad. I test mobile devices for work and I got the iphone mixed up in my head. I use ireader and kindle on android

[Maggie Leung]

Originally Posted by LuBiB

the color line makes it a lot more friendly and personaliz-able (lol) for those looking to stand out with an eReader

I'm curious why people are excited about the colors. They sell skins for all sorts of gadgets, in a huge selection of colors and designs. Is it because they don't sell skins for lesser-selling e-readers? (I've never used a skin, but people on the Amazon Kindle board are always going on about them, and say they work well.)

[X read X]

My guess on the price is $119.95. If you really think about it eBook readers can only get so cheep, the screens and the internals cost $$ form a somewhat regulated market. So the price would have to be competitive and still profitable.

I would really love to see that $99 price point, its really a psychological thing but as a few people said it may be a bit unrealistic.


And BTW the colors of skins are ok but not really great, its like having a faded color not really a solid color on your device. Plus no one sells a yellow skin for jetBook!!! i don't think anyway.

[Maggie Leung]

Originally Posted by X read X

And BTW the colors of skins are ok but not really great, its like having a faded color not really a solid color on your device. Plus no one sells a yellow skin for jetBook!!! i don't think anyway.

Thanks, X. That's good to know in case I ever buy a skin.

I wonder whether at some point there will be a popular e-reader that's somehow hand-customizable. Say they make a basic reading module and sell snap-on accessories to change the fit to your preference -- with a hump, with some kinda grip, and so on.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by davidspitzer

Isn't under 5 inches really a cell phone? A lot of people are already slipping and iPhone, android, blackberry or windows mobile phone in their pocket. I have an android phone which I load the kindle app on and stanza. I do not readily see why in would by a device with the same size screen ti fill up my other pocket

Where did you find Stanza for Android?

[X read X]

Originally Posted by Maggie Leung

Thanks, X. That's good to know in case I ever buy a skin.

I wonder whether at some point there will be a popular e-reader that's somehow hand-customizable. Say they make a basic reading module and sell snap-on accessories to change the fit to your preference -- with a hump, with some kinda grip, and so on.

That would be cool! I remember when i had a nextel a few years ago it was the big thing to get them with different "housings" light up antennas and all of this other bling that you don't need. maybe it will catch on for ereaders.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by X read X

My guess on the price is $119.95. If you really think about it eBook readers can only get so cheep, the screens and the internals cost $$ form a somewhat regulated market. So the price would have to be competitive and still profitable.

All true.
Looking at the internals of ebook readers it seems everything in them, except the screen, is essentially cell-phone tech. So, once the market matures (not now, not soon) we could expect low-end reader pricing to follow low-end cellphone price curves, with an added cost for the screen. With that as a guideline I'd say the pricing floor looks to be in the $49-79 range. But at that point, sales would have to run into the tens of millions worldwide to get screen costs low enough.
And that's not happening just yet.