A Visit to enTourage Systems

Originally Posted by physics

2) Second, as a student, one of the things that frustrated me was the selection of the ebooks. I realize that this isn't enTourage's fault, but their selection when it comes to the "standards" is rather poor- none of the undergraduate-level books used at my current school or where I went to undergraduate are on the site. There also aren't any of the reference books I need to use. So, if I'm not going to be able to get most of my books on there, then I still need to carry my bag full of heavy books (and my laptop) anyway...so why am I getting an ereader again?

Also, at least once, when one somewhat popular book appeared, it was an edition out of date. As I said, it'd not enTourage's fault, but when deciding on a device, whether or not you can get the books you need matters, and Amazon and B&N have a wide advantage there.


4) Time limits. Let's look at an introductory book, College Physics by Serway; you're only allowed it for 180 days. This book would be used for a two-semester introductory class. But what if you didn't take the second semester right after the first? You'd need to buy the book again. And what happens when you get to sophomore level physics and need to look up those equations on diffraction...no more book.

I feel your pain regarding textbooks, but I would like to point out that there are two other solutions. One is to buy the textbook, cut off the binding, and scan it in as a pdf. I have done this with a few books, which eliminates both of the very valid issues you raise. The other way raises legal and ethical questions that you have to answer for yourself, and that is that there are many books available as free pdf's on the web. I am neither endorsing this nor suggesting that you do it, only that it is possible. This includes a huge number of current editions of physics textbooks. In any case, either or both of these methods would allow you to more fully utilize the eDGe's ability to store and annotate pdf files.

Originally Posted by alefor

While it has no meaning at all anymore, long ago when I first got my eDGe, I contacted Entourage in an attempt to work with them (and I specifically told them I was not trying to make a financial arrangement) to promote the eDGe in the medical education community where I have a great deal of influence and many connections. I envisioned the eDGe as a great tool for medical education that could be bundled with textbooks as a major portion of a curriculum. My discussion was met with....... complete silence. Not even a "thanks but no thanks" response.

That's really too bad on their part. Had they taken you up on your offer, who knows what sales and/or contracts might have resulted?

But I thought there was a lot of bad press because the people who were buying didn't really understand/know what they were buying. I also thought there were a large number of returns from HSN, but I didn't really follow it because I wasn't interested in the PE that much. I just wonder if it was an overall positive experience, HSN. I don't doubt that they sold a lot of units at first, but I'm not sure what the net sales were after returns.

Originally Posted by kenjennings

I didn't hear any of that. Anyone have any links about it?

After the HSN sale, there were many comments left at the HSN Entourage site page. (I don't know if it is still up or not.) If you spent some time reading them, it became very clear that about half the people that commented really didn't like the device and the other half did. It also became fairly clear in those comments that most of the negative comments came from people who really didn't seem to understand what it was they were buying. Many/most seemed to be looking for a device weighted to media and social networking (playing games on Facebook seemed to come up, other stuff like that). I got the impression many were expecting something like an ipad on one side and a kindle on the other. They didn't seem to understand that the power of the eDge lay in it's notes/annotating interface. Also, a lot couldn't cope with the learning curve of the Android UI, and weight and 'unsleekness' were an issue. As a result, quite a few gadget blog sites picked up on the 'less than glowing' comments. Hence, negative press.

Just an idea, but everyone I have shown this too has freaked and wondered why didn't they know about the PE before they bought their Ipad or Kindle? Everyone wants to read Indoors AND Outdoors.

What if all edge/PE owners created videos and stormed YouTube? Showing people something converts better than any description on a site or review. An actual video of someone using the device indoors and then walkng outdoors and using the eInk side for the same book, would be interesting.

If those videos were then connected on our Facebook (whatever social media) sites where "friends" can click and see. Well, as a marketer myself, campaigns have started with less and made millions.

kenjennings, here's a link to the only enTourage product remaining on HSN. http://electronics.hsn.com/entourage...dReviewsHeader
As you can see, there are 93 associated reviews, many of them about the eDGe itself rather than about the accessory bundle for sale on this page. The overall rating is 2.5 stars, which is pretty bad, IMHO.

STL Droid, your idea of making videos is very good. Didn't Gunner, or maybe someone else, suggest such a thing too?? I have never made a video and I never signed up for Facebook or any other site like it, so I will be no good in that arena. Just an old fogey at heart! However, I have watched some of the videos already in existence about the eDGe and they definitely helped me decide I wanted one! So Go Team!!

Originally Posted by dcubed2

But I thought there was a lot of bad press because the people who were buying didn't really understand/know what they were buying. I also thought there were a large number of returns from HSN, but I didn't really follow it because I wasn't interested in the PE that much. I just wonder if it was an overall positive experience, HSN. I don't doubt that they sold a lot of units at first, but I'm not sure what the net sales were after returns.

As I recall, many of the complaints offered by folks were linked to disappointment that the PE was not the EE that they thought that they were purchasing. I remember listening to one of the shows and I do not recall the sales person mentioning that this was a Pocket Edge. Also, many HSN customers who returned the item appeared to not understand the PE and were not willing to study and practice on the unit. The sales people on such shows have a way of making all devices look so easy to use ... And, of course, in part that is their job with the time alloted to make their pitches to their viewers.

I recall it was not uncommon for the HSN purchasers complain that the eReader side lacked backlighting and was therefore useless in low light. Another common problem seemed that customers didn't know what wifi was, and didn't have it in their home, and therefore could not register the PE or access anything via the internet. Somewhat of a low tech crowd...

This is the first time I have taken the time to post as well. I purchased my EE last September and it has absolutely been integral to my success with returning to college. I used to be a very scattered and easily distracted student who also suffered from a minor writing disability. The Edge has helped round out my writing weakness, vastly improved my organization and given me an outlet for my creativity; I do design sketches of architecture, furniture, and mechanical objects.

Being able to contain all of my class notes, home, research and my personal journals all on one device has been a life saver. I am an engineering student so most of my work is a combination of schematics, equations and tabular data. The edge has let me keep up with notes in class, record accurate data real time on PDFs of lab printouts and cleaned up the disaster that was general referred to as my homework.

Nearly every professor and other student I have shown the edge to has been very impressed can immediately see the value of it. What Entourage really needs are advocates and trainers that can go onsite to different tech colleges to both demonstrate and support the two edges. Something along the lines of self motivated field sales and support people. To do that though they need to be able to actually fill orders that have been closed and there would need to be monetary incentive obviously. Perhaps with the mark up of local support contracts enough extra revenue could be created to be worth the salesmen’s time.

For any of this to work though everyone in the field will need to know the device inside and out and having a fist full of apps proven and tested to work with each release. Apps that make the Edge unique, in short being able to input with a stylist on the E-Reader side.

Let’s face it, the tablet side will never match up to the IPad. Apple has way too much tied up in R&D to keep up with them on incremental upgrades. What Entourage needs to do is focus on the “Nintendo Wi quality that the edge has. No one else is attempting to combine both aspects of an E-reader and a tablet.

What first came to mind for me when I originally got the Edge was “wouldn’t this be great if I could just get my text book cheaply from Entourage, and my professor could just assign reading and homework problems and have it tied to a digital syllabus and calendar that I could sync all of my classes to.. The form factor is great for this very purpose. Fully interactive text books could be developed where the lessons are in text that could be read on either the table or E-Reader side. You could insert “book marks where you could write in notes that could be looked at either by clicking on the book mark or by looking at all the notes as a complete document. The homework assignments could be completed on the E-Reader side by clicking on the problem in text and the total assignment could be bundled and sent to the professors Edge for grading.

Unfortunately college text book publishers would need to be on board or Entourage would need to work with specific colleges to publish books for them. The community college I just got my associates degree is very big on charging students as little as possible, both in tuition and in book costs. If the college could sell an edge to each student then and able to sell them all the text books they needed for half the usual cost the edge would quickly pay for itself at 120 dollars a book and save the student over all. Keep in mind that most students at community colleges are barely scraping by so big upfront costs can be a deal breaker.

I am worried though that my idea’s may be too little too late and there is not enough inventory or capital remaining at Entourage to implement any of them not to mention continue the hardware and software R&D that must be done. Primary hardware R&D being minimum of 8 color E-Reader, a 10x18 E-reader only that can blue tooth with the professors Edge to do class notes that can be projected onto a wall and to sync with students Edges. Power consumption, processing power and speed, overall thickness and weight are always directions for constant improvement.

I would not be too surprised if Entourage has not already considered these possibilities and either failed to achieve them or determined they were too far outside of the scope of the company to pursue.

Good input, Ritz!

I especially like the first 2 paragraphs.

Now I know what to tell them in a last visit