Bye bye Pocketbook

[rfog]

I remember this was the iRex policy (ilIad, DR1000, DR800): sell hardware with firmware following as a promise behind. Promises that were never fulfilled. And they finished closing because bankruptcy. The only difference, IMHO, is that PB devices are usable as ebook readers and iRex ones didn't (due battery and performance limitations).

However I see a lot of parallelisms here.

With this I'm not saying that PB will close or any other bad thing, I'm only viewing the parallelism. And I'm not complaining about my 903: it is a good device, with a good battery duration and a good screen and it is capable to be used as an ebook reader without annotations. I know it can be better in those stuff, but my car could be better too.

However, good companies keep their promises. Here we have both Amazon and B&N, who never failed in what they said ...

[adbosch]

Surprise: development of the PB302 has been delegated (outsourced), or in other words: PB apparently quit support by themselves. The actual developer is in a strictly customer relationship with PB and won't see a dime for his time and efforts. Am I wrong or am I right? The cheapest (non-) solution they could come up with. The good part of the news is that there still is development of the PB302. Until this volunteer decides otherwise, which he is very well entitled to.
Anyway, for me it's still bye bye Pocketbook.

[Guus]

Originally Posted by adbosch

Surprise: development of the PB302 has been delegated (outsourced), or in other words: PB apparently quit support by themselves. The actual developer is in a strictly customer relationship with PB and won't see a dime for his time and efforts. Am I wrong or am I right? The cheapest (non-) solution they could come up with. The good part of the news is that there still is development of the PB302. Until this volunteer decides otherwise, which he is very well entitled to.
Anyway, for me it's still bye bye Pocketbook.

If this is true, this is even more embarrassing. What about continuity, quality assurement, professionality. Incredible. PB can't take itself seriously anymore.
Indeed, bye, bye Pocketbook.

[mtravellerh]

Originally Posted by Guus

If this is thrue, this is even more embarrassing. What about continuity, quality assurement, professionality. Incredible. PB can't take itself seriously anymore.
Indeed, bye, bye Pocketbook.

This is, of course, not true. Just because we support users as good as we can we haven't stopped our development.

[Metal Mick]

Originally Posted by Guus

If this is thrue, this is even more embarrassing. What about continuity, quality assurement, professionality. Incredible. PB can't take itself seriously anymore.
Indeed, bye, bye Pocketbook.

Hi Guus, et al,

entirely valid points. When I saw Review's new thread ( https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=120810 ), I had similar thoughts. No mention of what the arrangement was with PB, nor the goals of the "project", nor its duration.

And it seems PB is miring itself deeper in customer dissatisfaction. What would the cost have been to them to start a thread giving the details of what Review was to achieve? Is this one of the "positive surprises" (from post #44 of this thread) that owners were told about?

It used to be a rule of thumb that one unhappy customer cost profits from ten sales. The internet serves to magnify this many times over.

More worrying for those with 60x/90x/IQ units: if this is how PB treats a model that was less than a year old, and until recently advertised as "the latest from..." or similar, what might be in store for those owners towards the end of the year? Will there be new models on the horizon to be deemed more worthy of effort than the current ones, and this whole sorry tale repeated?

I must admit I am a little envious of Review, who appears to have received a 302 that works properly, unlike the one sent halfway around the world to me, courtesy of an apparent "let the customer find the quality defects and attempt a warranty claim" policy.

Cheers,

[JimMcLaren]

Originally Posted by adbosch

Surprise: development of the PB302 has been delegated (outsourced), or in other words: PB apparently quit support by themselves. The actual developer is in a strictly customer relationship with PB and won't see a dime for his time and efforts. Am I wrong or am I right? The cheapest (non-) solution they could come up with. The good part of the news is that there still is development of the PB302. Until this volunteer decides otherwise, which he is very well entitled to.
Anyway, for me it's still bye bye Pocketbook.

YOU ARE WRONG! (Well, you asked.) Is your source for this the posts by review on this board? He never makes such outrageous claims. He's a knowledgeable hacker. That's all.

How do I know that? The truth is I don't. But I can make a bald statement like that, just as you did. And there is just as likely to be as much truth in mine as in yours. But it's obvious from later posts he does not have access to PB's source code. If he was their support they would have at least given him the source code for the apps he's trying to support.

People will believe anything, either because they desperately want it to be true or because they desperately fear it's true. With you I think it's a little of both.

[review]

Originally Posted by JimMcLaren

YOU ARE WRONG! (Well, you asked.) Is your source for this the posts by review on this board? He never makes such outrageous claims. He's a knowledgeable hacker. That's all.

How do I know that? The truth is I don't. But I can make a bald statement like that, just as you did. And there is just as likely to be as much truth in mine as in yours. But it's obvious from later posts he does not have access to PB's source code. If he was their support they would have at least given him the source code for the apps he's trying to support.

People will believe anything, either because they desperately want it to be true or because they desperately fear it's true. With you I think it's a little of both.

Yes Jim, you're right.

There was a similar discussion on the German forum and Pocketbook has stated clearly what the reasons were that they send me the Pocketbook. So here is the full story:
Like all of you I also don't have access to any more code like anyone as you have. I've added some nice little features to the latest series and some 302 owners were asking if those modifications would also run on the earlier version. However, the 302 and the pro series are not binary compatible so I had to say that they're not and that I don't have one to be able to test my modifications on it. So Pocketbook send me a 302 as a recognition for what I've done for the Pro series. Pocketbook has been deeply accused on the German thread so they made clear that this has nothing to do with the promised surprise (new firmware) and also that the 302 was not a "payment" for any work which should be done by me. So they couldn't have started a thread saying that I will develop now for the 302. Now my thread simply says that in return for Pocketbooks kindness I will try to port my various modifications to the 302.
If you like this wasn't an official action by Pocketbook International but it was a way of Pocketbook Germany/Europe to express their loyalty towards the community.

And if you think about the whole situation with the 302, I don't want to be in Pocketbook Europe shoes. They may have asked the Guys in Kiev in the past when this or that feature will be available and they got a reply. So they went into the forum and announced it. But then the Guys in Kiev didn't managed to deliver their promises on time. So who is the person who will be blamed by the community? Of course the persons in the first line to the customer. But is it their fault? Not at all I would say. Is there anything what they can do to improve the situation? Well, I believe it is very hard for them. The only option they could have would be to make less promises but then a year ago they were probably not aware of the fact of how much the Guys in Kiev work on time to keep their promises towards them.

[adbosch]

I'm selling my PB302 asap. Bye bye Pocketbook.

[joepie]

Originally Posted by adbosch

Surprise: development of the PB302 has been delegated (outsourced), or in other words: PB apparently quit support by themselves. The actual developer is in a strictly customer relationship with PB and won't see a dime for his time and efforts. Am I wrong or am I right? The cheapest (non-) solution they could come up with. The good part of the news is that there still is development of the PB302. Until this volunteer decides otherwise, which he is very well entitled to.
Anyway, for me it's still bye bye Pocketbook.

To me, this almost sounds like slander...
Adbosch, I think you are pushing this a bit too far...

[adbosch]

Joepie, be happy with your PB302. I'm slandering no one, just sharing my impressions, which seem to be confirmed.
Btw the whole PB302 story looks like ... (fill it in yourselvers, I wouldn't want to slander)

[m2heikamp]

Originally Posted by adbosch

I'm selling my PB302 asap. Bye bye Pocketbook.

Selling?! which self-respecting ....... ever wants to buy a PB302 after all this? Unless you want to offer the same kind of "service" and just go for the money.

[joepie]

Originally Posted by adbosch

Surprise: development of the PB302 has been delegated (outsourced), or in other words: PB apparently quit support by themselves. The actual developer is in a strictly customer relationship with PB and won't see a dime for his time and efforts. Am I wrong or am I right? The cheapest (non-) solution they could come up with. The good part of the news is that there still is development of the PB302. Until this volunteer decides otherwise, which he is very well entitled to.
Anyway, for me it's still bye bye Pocketbook.

@adbosch
I did say almost...

Definition of slander:
1. Law: Oral communication of false statements injurious to a person's reputation.
2. A false and malicious statement or report about someone.

The small difference I see is the part about the oral communication. You have written it on a public forum for everyone to see...

[adbosch]

Who did you say was making false statements? Me? Not PB? You are a funny guy, Joepie.

[joepie]

Now I'm the one who's funny...

You are the one who keeps saying bye bye many a time, but you don't seem to be actually leaving as often...

Why not sell the thing, indeed, you'll be a lot happier.

[Guus]

Originally Posted by joepie

.......Why not sell the thing, indeed, you'll be a lot happier.

Who wants to buy a PB 302 (or any PB) without support????