DR800SG now listed on Best Buy web site

[badbob001]

It was kind of strange that IREX had their showing at Frankfurt Book Fair and there wasn't any new information on the DR800. But I found some today:

iRex DR800SG: Top, but expensive (+ HD video)
* Original Version (Dutch?)
* Google Translated

Not much new info. Restates MSRP of $399USD and 270 Euro with connectivity included for the life of the device. There is a comment on the high price in comparison with other readers, with something I'm guessing as referring to 'early adapters' and 'luxury'. The main tidbit is the youtube video (watch in HD):


youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCaWKOUEfiE

• Page flipping looks pretty fast and they are doing a full black screen transition instead of a inverse transition. Says it's based on Adobe SDK.
• Mentions of 90% of usage can be accomplished with the left-right flipbar.
• Finger touch display product estimated at Q3 2010.
• Leather case included. From the bestbuy page that was briefly up, the cover is made by some leather goods company that sounds famous but don't have a store in the USA. Looks like you have to bend the case back 180 degrees if you want to flip pages with one hand. Or use two hands like in the video (like a real book?).
• Screen background color perfectly matches the device color. Nice.
• Too bad it doesn't have wifi, which can make it a challenge for them to fully demo the product in areas or countries without 3G coverage.

Here is another article:
Ereaders at Frankfurt Book Fair – a reader’s report
* Link
Nothing really new, but mentions that IREX's new focus is on a color reader by 2011 (how about focusing on releasing and supporting the DR800?!). Also mentions that IREX was also showing their larger professional reader, which I assume is the DR1000S (you can see it in the background in the above video). Interesting enough, it mentions that it has WIFI and Bluetooth, so either the author has spotted the white whale DR1000SW, or if just accepting the marketing material at face value.

[Mr. Goodbar]

Thanks for posting. The performance definitely looks good, especially in the Newspaper Direct example. Was expecting that to be much slower. Hopefully battery life and sleep are on par with the other devices on the market. I really like the 8" screen size and they've done a much better job getting it into a small form factor this time around. Anxiously waiting for the release.

[badbob001]

More videos from Frankfurt. These are from http://www.ebookreaderforum.com/.

Did they not have wifi / internet access over there and had to wait for everyone to get back to upload their videos? Most likely immediate internet access costs too much.

Not much new information, but you can compare the refresh speed of the dr1000 vs the dr800. They claim the dr800 is the fastest in the world. Still seems awkward to have the page controls at the spine of the cover. Is it me or it seems like the operator is being very gentle with the device.

[Jumpn Jack Flash]

Nice catch badbob, the German release in 2010 seems unusual. I would have thought a dutch release or through their online shop was more for the par. Could this be tied to some sort of subscription mechanism (t-mobile or someone else) ?

I wonder if there is kernel modules for a wifi card so a quick swap could be done.

[CleverClothe]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

Actually the k2 lists for $259 now.

Right, I was listing device + cover for each device, since most people will get a cover.

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by CleverClothe

Right, I was listing device + cover for each device, since most people will get a cover.

Ah, thanks.

[etienne66]

I sent Irex an email asking them about the price difference. This was their response.

Thank you for showing interest in our product.

This price involves the deluxe version who will be out end of October.

Luxury box, special stylus and $ 150,= of books.

http://www.irexreader.com/
http://i-to-i.irexnet.com/

I hope this information is sufficient, if there are any questions don't
hesitate to contact us.

Kind regards,
The iRex Shop.

Etienne66

[Mr. Goodbar]

Originally Posted by etienne66

I sent Irex an email asking them about the price difference. This was their response.


Etienne66

Interesting. I wonder if the books are the standard public domain books or if there are actually trade books in the bundle? They better hurry if they plan on meeting their end of October date.

[lunged]

Thanks for the info, Etienne.
How annoying, though. By $150 worth of books I imagine they actually mean $0 worth of classics available free from Project Gutenberg/Feedbook/etc.
A luxury box?! Thats pretty lame. And a special pen? Does it work better or make it easier to use? If not, who cares? I wish they wouldn't pull these kind of cheap marketing tricks and just sell us the reader for $399.

[jonas]

The page is not available now. What's wrong?

[Mr. Goodbar]

Originally Posted by jonas

The page is not available now. What's wrong?

The page got taken down towards the end of last week, a few days after it first appeared. It could just be that it got posted earlier than planned, it could mean some kind of delay in availability or something else. It does seem a little weird, but hopefully we'll still see them in stores by the end of October.

[Maike13]

Originally Posted by lunged

Thanks for the info, Etienne.
How annoying, though. By $150 worth of books I imagine they actually mean $0 worth of classics available free from Project Gutenberg/Feedbook/etc.
A luxury box?! Thats pretty lame. And a special pen? Does it work better or make it easier to use? If not, who cares? I wish they wouldn't pull these kind of cheap marketing tricks and just sell us the reader for $399.

I agree. This just isn't the way to develop a loyal customer base, particularly for a company that isn't well known here in the US. Why announce an MSRP of $399 if you have no intention of selling it at this price? That's just a good way to hack people off.

I checked with Best Buy about the item disappearing and got this reply:

"I contacted our buyer and they stated that the iRex should be available on the website this week! I'm sorry to hear that the price was higher than you had expected. We do have a Price Match Guarantee. The following link can explain that in more detail........"

Of course since Best Buy is currently the only distributor, the Price Match Guarantee is worthless.

Fortunately, as consumers, we always have the option not to buy, and this is an option I now intend to exercise, at least until I've had a chance to check out the Nook. I was pretty excited when the DR800SG was announced, as it seemed like just what I was looking for in a reader. However this price fiasco has compounded concerns I have about the reliability of iRex as a company, and I'm now considerably less inclined to buy from them.

[badbob001]

They should be looking into ways to reduce the cost of their device, not increase it. I don't care if the luxury version (only version?) comes in a teak box with swarovski crystals on the stylus since I don't find value in things that don't add to the day to day functionality. If they added a $10 wifi component and charged me $50, then it wouldn't be so repulsive. I wouldn't mind spending $50 on an accidental protection plan, similar to the nook's, and that at least shows some token of company backing behind their product. Might as well package it into a $1000 Louis Vuitton hand bag so my wife can enjoy the luxury-added value.

Since irex is competing in the leisure reading space that contains the Kindle 2 and the Nook, it seems strange for irex to price their device more towards the professional range of the Kindle DX. Granted, irex's professional offering, the DR1000S, is close to $900 and makes the DR800 look like a bargain, they need purchases to stay relevant (and in business). Their venture capital money is not free money.

If you check out the irex shop site, you can probably tell how much 'better' the stylus can be.
https://www.irexshop.com/index.php?cPath=1_31
Basically, the thicker, the more costlier. Sure, the most expensive one has an eraser, but that is not supported by any of their current products and I'm uneasy with doing much rubbing on the delicate screen.

I'm guessing someone at BestBuy is looking at their store display plan and thinking:
* Sony Pocket Edition: $199
* Sony Touch Edition: $299
* Sony Daily Edition: $399 (my guess)
* Irex DR800SG: $399

"Hmm, lets bump the DR800SG to $450 to avoid any unnecessary consumer and employee training to explain the similar pricing and go with 'cost more' = 'better'."

[Mr. Goodbar]

If the new Sony comes in at $399 you could make the case the new Irex could be positioned at a higher point, but you quickly bump into the DX price territory if you do. I could see them going to $425 if the 7" Sony comes in at $399, but not much more.

They could definitely use a marketing department! One look at the website is a prime example of that as well as pricing/positioning of the product. The Kindle and Nook both have nice multimedia presentations and the 800 still only has a computer generated picture. They are a relatively small company, but hiring a talking head is not that expensive compared to the overall product development costs and could payoff big time for them. They can really highlight some nice benefits such as screen area twice the size of the 6" competition meaning less page turns, an overall size comparable to 6" devices, a pen based note taking feature which is much more natural than a non-pen based approach and the benefits of the open e-mall architecture, but they don't seem to be taking advantage of any of that.

I still question how viable they are long term in the market, but it's still very early from a business perspective and personally I love the 8" screen size. I think it's the best screen size if you keep the overall dimensions small like they've managed with the 800 and they might be more likely to attract the hardback book readers.

[Maike13]

Originally Posted by Maike13

...........I checked with Best Buy about the item disappearing and got this reply:

"I contacted our buyer and they stated that the iRex should be available on the website this week! I'm sorry to hear that the price was higher than you had expected. We do have a Price Match Guarantee. The following link can explain that in more detail........"
...........

I have to give Best Buy Customer Service credit. I had replied to their reply pointing out that the Price Guarantee was pretty worthless as they were going to be the only ones selling the iRex. I had expected that to be that but I got another reply.

"I was not aware that we had the exclusive rights to sell this item. I did receive some new information from the buyer today. Apparently we had to pull this product from the website as the product information that we received from the manufacturer needed to be revised. It will hopefully be available on the website again around November 3rd after we receive the proper product information. I have also forwarded your comments regarding the cost to the buyer. Hopefully they will take this into consideration and be able to offer a more competitive selling price. Thank you for giving us your feedback on that. Please let me know if there is anything else I can help you with."

I must admit I'm quite impressed at this level of service. I doubt it will make any difference (particularly if the higher price is due to a deluxe edition as mentioned earlier by etienne66), but at least someone is listening.