Sony's competitive future with Kindle

[hidari]

Yes. Apparently they sold out of stock on the initial launching. They sell the 350 and 650 at Yodobashi Camera and Bic Camera... both of these are national electronic shops located in most major cities. I know about 5 Japanese that have bought a Sony reader. Also, on the streets , I have seen a few and several Galaxy tabs.....

[tomsem]

I have considered getting a Sony over the years, and even as recently as a couple of nights ago had to think several minutes before deciding not to buy a discounted PRS-350 (love the form factor, touch interface). I think the build quality may well be 'better' than my Kindles, but in the end am not willing to pay more for it (does it need to last 10 years, or even 5? I think not, particularly with Amazon's liberal, efficient, and - in my experience, cheerful - exchange policy in the event of defect). In terms of the user interface and reader features, I'd say they are about equally capable and equally annoying, but clearly superior to Nook or Kobo and the rest.

But when I considers the entirety of the ecosystem in which each device resides, it is not even close: Amazon understands publishing, readers, and retail, they have a vision and they deliver on it. They have great customer service. You can read your content anywhere on virtually anything with a screen on it. There's all this social networking stuff, interesting and informative reviews of books you are considering buying, etc. They are going to have the most seamless library ebook borrowing feature out there (apart from Overdrive's iOS/Android apps). I doubt they'll even be making Kindles 3 years from now, but they'll be selling gazillions of ebooks. Kindle platform is not perfect, but it continues to improve and evolve and adjust to competitive reality.

Sony, not so much. It took Sony a couple of years to develop an app for Mac OS, which you need to buy books from Sony. What's that all about? Can't they build a web storefront like everybody else? Don't they want to be able to sell books to owners of other devices? Apparently not, and that's why their iOS reading app was rejected, they still have no 'multiscreen' strategy, and they don't sell a lot of books and have to make their profit on the hardware. But if they aren't going to make a go of their own storefront, why not at least update the RMSDK firmware so you can read B&N ebooks on the device (as most other RMSDK-enabled systems will at this point), and then sell in B&N as well as Borders? Sony's current line of ereaders are capable, and they sell well in some geographies (Japan, Russia), but they don't seem to have the focus to innovate and succeed in the long run as a player in this market.

Which is too bad, since it is still very early in the digital reading 'revolution' and only continued, strong competition can allow space for the kind of innovation that can explore its full potential.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

Maybe so, but it is barely usable for us Norte Americanos! Other sources ARE better.

If I were Sony, I'd drop the bookstore and enter into an agreement with one of the better vendors and work out some sort of revenue sharing agreement in exchange for directing traffic to it. <cough> Smashwords <cough>

I bet Smashwords would be willing to sell mainstream books in exchange for having Sony reader users officially directed to them.

I hope never Smashwords. Their meatgrinder conversion is awful. It's just a Word document converted with Calibre and the garbage in the Word document is not nice.

[Leyor]

I wanted the best e-reader I could afford, for me that was the PRS-950. Looks great, reasonable build quality and I can use it on many different online book stores.

However it's extremely hard to get a Sony reader here, and impossible to get the PRS-950. So I had to order it from the US, send it to a friend, have him ship it here. To me thats poor availability. My UK and french friends have the same problem.

I wanted a cover, however they are sold out of/stopped producing the original cover, so I had to buy a bloody zip bag from them. Luckily I found someone on Etsy making a great cover for me.

I've never seen a Sony reader commercial, or advertisement, I've seen Kindles however.

It's great that the japanese love them, and that Sony apparantly ran into supply problems. But as with every other Sony niche product, it seems like they made a great product and then started screwing themselves on availability, supply, marketing and providing deriviative products.

I really want Sony to succeed, they have a great product. But no amount of posturing and defending them is going to change the fact that they are loosing out on alot of potential customers.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by tomsem

But when I considers the entirety of the ecosystem in which each device resides, it is not even close. . . .

It seems to me that your points have to do primarily with a given device's interaction with large and proprietary marketplaces. The Kindle is seamlessly and usefully linked to Amazon and, until recently, nothing else (the infamous library issue); the Nook, to B&N. Both are dominant bookstores located mainly in the United States.

Proprietary marketplaces all have their loyalists and apostates. Sony Readers are for apostates, and for those whose purchases take place outside mainstream bookstores and perhaps not in the States at all.

Amazon's "vision," like Apple's, is of a store with a large electric fence surrounding it. Those of us who dislike electric fences might choose to purchase a less proprietary product.

It isn't that Sony has better ethics than Amazon -- clearly they don't.

What Sony does have is no consistent interest in locking down this particular device. Their gaming consoles and digital music recorders are another matter.

[Poppaea]

Originally Posted by tomsem

But when I considers the entirety of the ecosystem in which each device resides, it is not even close: Amazon understands publishing, readers, and retail, they have a vision and they deliver on it. They have great customer service. You can read your content anywhere on virtually anything with a screen on it. There's all this social networking stuff, interesting and informative reviews of books you are considering buying, etc. They are going to have the most seamless library ebook borrowing feature out there (apart from Overdrive's iOS/Android apps). I doubt they'll even be making Kindles 3 years from now, but they'll be selling gazillions of ebooks. Kindle platform is not perfect, but it continues to improve and evolve and adjust to competitive reality.

Sony, not so much. It took Sony a couple of years to develop an app for Mac OS, which you need to buy books from Sony. What's that all about? Can't they build a web storefront like everybody else? Don't they want to be able to sell books to owners of other devices? Apparently not, and that's why their iOS reading app was rejected, they still have no 'multiscreen' strategy, and they don't sell a lot of books and have to make their profit on the hardware. But if they aren't going to make a go of their own storefront, why not at least update the RMSDK firmware so you can read B&N ebooks on the device (as most other RMSDK-enabled systems will at this point), and then sell in B&N as well as Borders? Sony's current line of ereaders are capable, and they sell well in some geographies (Japan, Russia), but they don't seem to have the focus to innovate and succeed in the long run as a player in this market.

Which is too bad, since it is still very early in the digital reading 'revolution' and only continued, strong competition can allow space for the kind of innovation that can explore its full potential.

All your arguments refer to the American market. A market that is clearly dominated by Amazon. Why should any company waste money on a battle lost? Isn't it better to spend said money on developing markets?

Originally Posted by Leyor

I wanted the best e-reader I could afford, for me that was the PRS-950. Looks great, reasonable build quality and I can use it on many different online book stores.

However it's extremely hard to get a Sony reader here, and impossible to get the PRS-950. So I had to order it from the US, send it to a friend, have him ship it here. To me thats poor availability. My UK and french friends have the same problem.

I wanted a cover, however they are sold out of/stopped producing the original cover, so I had to buy a bloody zip bag from them. Luckily I found someone on Etsy making a great cover for me.

I've never seen a Sony reader commercial, or advertisement, I've seen Kindles however.

It's great that the japanese love them, and that Sony apparantly ran into supply problems. But as with every other Sony niche product, it seems like they made a great product and then started screwing themselves on availability, supply, marketing and providing deriviative products.

I really want Sony to succeed, they have a great product. But no amount of posturing and defending them is going to change the fact that they are loosing out on alot of potential customers.

950s are wifi readers whose task it is to download the newspapers. This is why they are called "The Daily Edition". To provide this service you have to have a working contract with a company selling internet/3G services. I would suggest you write to Sony and propose your business plan that covers the aforementioned services in the 19 countries where the Sonys are sold for naught.

Furthermore you will need storefronts to sell the newspapers making up for the telefon/internet service you might have to pay for. This would be the ultimate business coup as it is unheard of today that any company out there aiming to make money will do so. It should get you a place in heaven.

In case you fail to make this happen, you will want to decide Sonys plan of action, to sell the device only in the country where they can provide this and not loose money. Even if it were convienient for you and your friends I highly doubt Sony is in the market to loose money on you.

[darknessangel]

While I really hope that the picture that Poppaea is painting is true and gets better for Sony (because I still think that the kindle looks fugly...). However, I'm still of the idea that the revenue that amazon is getting from the kindle (books+hardware) far surpasses the one Sony is getting from its hardware because as I've said before... the marketing models of the two are different!

Amazon is centred on the software and selling of books while Sony is on the hardware. As a clear example you can see the kindle apps for iOS and Android. In my opinion, if Amazon sees the revenue of the hardware part of the kindle section declining, it's not going to hesitate to drop it like a rock and rely on other readers for making da monies. However at the cheap-o price of their reader it's highly unlikely.

[Poppaea]

Originally Posted by darknessangel

While I really hope that the picture that Poppaea is painting is true and gets better for Sony (because I still think that the kindle looks fugly...). However, I'm still of the idea that the revenue that amazon is getting from the kindle (books+hardware) far surpasses the one Sony is getting from its hardware because as I've said before... the marketing models of the two are different!

Amazon is centred on the software and selling of books while Sony is on the hardware. As a clear example you can see the kindle apps for iOS and Android. In my opinion, if Amazon sees the revenue of the hardware part of the kindle section declining, it's not going to hesitate to drop it like a rock and rely on other readers for making da monies. However at the cheap-o price of their reader it's highly unlikely.

Both companies just keep going in the direction they were coming from. One is a bookseller trying to sell more books by supplying a reading device. The other is a hardware company selling hardware and taking the random booksell with it on its way. At least that is how I see it.

[raac]

I have a 950 and love it. I bought it mainly due to the touchscreen and the screen size. The WiFi and access to Wikipedia also featured heavily in my decision. Finally, I wanted to to be able to read EPUBs from various sources and not be chained to Amazon's store. The library access didn't feature prominently, although have used the feature once or twice.

[sonyreaderfan]

Sony, not so much. It took Sony a couple of years to develop an app for Mac OS, which you need to buy books from Sony. What's that all about? Can't they build a web storefront like everybody else? Don't they want to be able to sell books to owners of other devices? Apparently not, and that's why their iOS reading app was rejected, they still have no 'multiscreen' strategy, and they don't sell a lot of books and have to make their profit on the hardware.

Sony does have a web storefront, http://ebookstore.sony.com/. Is this something you're referring to?

The reason their iOS app is pulled is not because they don't "want to be able to sell books to other devices," but because, as explained by Engadget, "The reasons given to Sony were that Apple will not no longer accept applications that permit in-app purchases of content that don't go through Apple itself, and, moreover, will not tolerate apps that access material purchased through external content stores." In other words, to buy ebooks in Sony Reader app, the transaction has to be handled by Apple. The reader app didn't allow that capability so it was pulled.

Sony is not the only company to get its reader app because of Apple's new rule -- Dark Horse Comics also got their app pulled.

As for multiscreen device strategy, there is a Sony Reader app for Android, just not for iOS.

But if they aren't going to make a go of their own storefront, why not at least update the RMSDK firmware so you can read B&N ebooks on the device (as most other RMSDK-enabled systems will at this point), and then sell in B&N as well as Borders?

And for Sony selling ebooks to other devices, you can load ebooks from Sony ebookstore onto Nooks and Kobo readers. As for being able to get ebooks from BN onto Sony Readers and selling Sony in BN, I doubt it's in either companies' interest to make it happen. For sure BN will not carry any other ereaders except their own. (Border sells Kobo and Sony because it has no ebook strategy of its own -- one reason why it's bankrupted.)Each company has the economic imperative to build their own lock-in ecosystem, like iTunes and Amazon. (In Sony's case, semi-locked in -- you can load Kobo books onto Sony Readers.) Sony has a slow start compare to Amazon but it has pieces in place with their own music and movie properties, and ebooks, and the storefronts, Qriocity and Sony Ebookstore. BN is slowing building its ecosystem with its special DRMed ebooks and Android apps. You can't load BN books onto Kobo readers either. Only Kobo has declared itself to be device agnostic.

To further its ecosystem, Sony is coming out with two Android tablets (S1 and S2) and you can bet they'll be tied to the Qriocity store and be bundled with the Sony Reader app. To build its ecosystem, Amazon has the power to commoditize the Kindle but Sony doesn't. So Sony's strategy is to be niche player. In a Wired review of the Pocket Edition Reader (http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/...creen-ereaders):

"The bottom line is we didn’t want to compete on price,” said Steve Haber, president of Sony’s digital reading business division. “We wanted to build quality and overall experience. We want to give consumers the feel of buying an e-reader, not a toy.”

As Poppaea says, Sony needs to sell their hardware and make money on it.

[astra]

Originally Posted by sonyreaderfan

"The bottom line is we didn’t want to compete on price,” said Steve Haber, president of Sony’s digital reading business division. “We wanted to build quality and overall experience. We want to give consumers the feel of buying an e-reader, not a toy.”

I hope they stick to it and don't give up on us

[Poppaea]

Originally Posted by astra

I hope they stick to it and don't give up on us

Actually, I don't think they will. The introduction of the X50-Series to the Japanese and Russian market in the last few weeks would be totally BS if they wanted to give up on their e-ink devices. Why spend money on the launch of a product you wanna get rid of?

Nah, my gut tells me the shortage of 650s is due to a shortage in 6" screens. Looks more like they were taken by surprise with the success of the 650 and didn't make their contract with the screen supplier big enough to meet the demand. Both 950 and 350 were available all the time. Only the 6"ers aka as the same size Amazon use are sold out the moment a couple of them hit the stores.

I was told at the Sony Lifestyle Shop Berlin they have a waiting list for them as long as the drive from here to the moon and back.

The reason to buy my spare was more or less to have that particular model ad infinitum as I love it dearly and have a hard time coming up with an idea of how it could possibly improved.

[Ashjuk]

Originally Posted by astra

I hope they stick to it and don't give up on us

Here, here.

I'm new to the forum, but not new to eReaders. I bought my Sony 600 nearly a year ago and I think it's great. I would love to upgrade it to a 650/950 for the better screen but they seem to be impossible to find in the UK at the moment.

I looked at the Kindle but there is no way I am going to get tied into getting my books from Amazon no matter how cheap the reader is.

I have acquired quite a large collection of eBooks in various formats and I like the ease in which I can transfer these from my PC to the reader, having to use an off-site service to do this is a non-starter for me.

So let us all hope that Sony do not let us down and discontinue their wonderful eReaders.

[Poppaea]

Welcome Ashjuk!

Try checking the SonySite in the mornings. About every ten days a bunch of 650s shows up and is sold out again in a day. I was lucky twice in the last four weeks and so you will be. Just make it a daily habit and be ready to pull the trigger

Good hunting!

[TGS]

Originally Posted by Ashjuk

Here, here.

I'm new to the forum, but not new to eReaders. I bought my Sony 600 nearly a year ago and I think it's great. I would love to upgrade it to a 650/950 for the better screen but they seem to be impossible to find in the UK at the moment.

I looked at the Kindle but there is no way I am going to get tied into getting my books from Amazon no matter how cheap the reader is.

I have acquired quite a large collection of eBooks in various formats and I like the ease in which I can transfer these from my PC to the reader, having to use an off-site service to do this is a non-starter for me.

So let us all hope that Sony do not let us down and discontinue their wonderful eReaders.

I was in London a few weeks ago and called into the Sony Store in Wood Green - just to see of they had a 650 in stock. They had one, and I was very tempted, but resisted. So, it may be that cruising the Sony Stores is also an option.