Sony PRS-700 Reader launch in New York City

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

As an example, I was involved in a discussion elsewhere on taxicabs, and the desirability of a model designed to be a cab for major metropolitan areas like NYC. In NYC, "livery" cabs require licenses from the city Taxi and Limousine Commission. To operate a taxi, you must have a medallion. Medallions are in limited quantities. New ones are occasionally auctioned by the city, and the going price the last I heard was about $75,000. At any one time, there are about 12,000 livery cabs on the street in NYC.

Another participant in the discussion is an engineer at GM. He managed to avoid rolling on the floor laughing at the idea that GM could produce a vehicle for a market of about 15,000, but it wasn't easy. They can't. They'd need a market about 30 times that large to even think about it. They are simply too big, with too much overhead, to produce that few of a model profitably.

I agree - that's the kind of area where small companies can profitably fill a niche market.

To use your example, London taxis (which I'm sure everyone's seen on TV, if not in person) are made by a (relatively) small company called "Manganese Bronze" (http://www.manganese.com). They produce a specialist product for a specialist market (the average London taxi has a lifetime of about 30 years, and is designed for that purpose). It's something that no "mainstream" car manufacturer could possibly compete at.

[Argel]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

The two aren't comparable. iPod users are generally downloading individual tracks, not full albums. The equivalent for a book would be getting a chapter at a time.

A single track is an individual work in its own right, so is a book. And a single track is a bigger download than a book. People don't go to record stores to do it.

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Where would you buy a reader?

Certainly not in a bookshop!

In the same way that I didn't buy my mp3 player or my stereo system from a record shop or my TV from a DVD store. I'll buy an electronic gadget from a shop that specialises in and understands electronic gadgets. It's what almost everyone else does and I see no reason why they would suddenly decide to change in the case of ebooks.

Are there people who would prefer the safety of someone else loading their books (or their music tracks)? Of course. Are there enough of them prepared to pay the premium for housing and staffing the service? I doubt it.

Dedicated bookshops in the UK are dying anyway. This will be one more nail in their coffin.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by adinb

Dennis --

First, thanks again for attending and giving us this great writeup. You mentioned that you'd be following up with some contacts in the following days, so I have a quick question that you can hopefully pass along....

Can try, at least. That may be a technical detail I'll get passed to someone else to answer.

What is the OS X (or Linux, or anything) compatibility going to be with the new software and reader? Is sony going to have a method of buying from their store from OS X (again, or Linux)? Are they going to push other stores towards host OS neutrality?

I don't have a Sony Reader, so I don't know: I gather you can't purchase from the Sony store now?

I'm not sure what sort of push Sony can provide to other vendors.

Will the 700 keep the functionality of appearing as a USB Mass Storage Device to OSX/Linux?

As mentioned, I'll ask.

Thanks!

You're welcome.
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I agree - that's the kind of area where small companies can profitably fill a niche market.

To use your example, London taxis (which I'm sure everyone's seen on TV, if not in person) are made by a (relatively) small company called "Manganese Bronze" (http://www.manganese.com). They produce a specialist product for a specialist market (the average London taxi has a lifetime of about 30 years, and is designed for that purpose). It's something that no "mainstream" car manufacturer could possibly compete at.

I'm willing to bet Manganese Bronze is like the old Checker Motors corporation in the US. Checker made the famous Checker cab (and a consumer version called the Marathon sedan). Checker was a custom coach builder. They made the bodies, which they put on Chevrolet running gear. If they had to make the engine, drive train, chassis, etc. as well, they wouldn't have been able to survive.

But yes, big companies need big markets. Sales that will make Bookeen happy would be a miserable failure for Sony.
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Dennis

[julia103]

I like the idea of a kiosk in a bookstore to download e-books. I find browsing in bookstores more satisfying than browsing on Amazon. It's easier/quicker to see something that I hadn't previously heard of that might interest me. Sometimes I go to Borders or B&N, see some books that look interesting, and then go online to see if they are available as e-books.

Other times I may see an online listing for an e-book from an author that I'm unfamiliar with that might be interesting. I may go to the public library or a bookstore and look at the paper version: Do the first two pages hold my attention? I may pick a random page in the middle of the book and see if it still seems interesting. (If it's supposed to be a mystery, but the random page gives me a fairly explicit sex scene, it goes back on the shelf and gets crossed off my list because that's not what I'm looking for. Or if I'm looking for a cozy mystery and the random page has a CSI-type description of the body...)

If I could buy a book as an e-book while in the store, instead of going home to buy it, that would be good. It would be convenient for me as a consumer, and, depending on how the companies set it up, it might mean that some of my money would go to the store where I decided to buy the book. Currently I can spend an hour in Borders but they don't get any of my money because I'm going to buy the book as an e-book if possible.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Argel

A single track is an individual work in its own right, so is a book. And a single track is a bigger download than a book. People don't go to record stores to do it.

Point taken.

Certainly not in a bookshop!

In the same way that I didn't buy my mp3 player or my stereo system from a record shop or my TV from a DVD store. I'll buy an electronic gadget from a shop that specialises in and understands electronic gadgets. It's what almost everyone else does and I see no reason why they would suddenly decide to change in the case of ebooks.

Understood.

Part of the whole point of buying from a shop rather than ordering on line is to see and touch the device before purchase.

But whether the shop "understands" the gear they sell is another matter. It might be better where you are, but over here, I've largely given up expecting the sales personnel to actually know anything about the kit they sell. Electronics retailing is brutally competitive and based on price. Shops pay the minimum they can for staff, which makes actual expertise unlikely.

Are there people who would prefer the safety of someone else loading their books (or their music tracks)? Of course. Are there enough of them prepared to pay the premium for housing and staffing the service? I doubt it.

I'm not sure I see why a premium price is involved.

But note that Sony is partnering with brick-and-mortar retailers, not just bookstores. They have a deal with Borders, who is a book and music retail chain, but they are also partnered with Target, with is a general interest discount department store, with a broad range of offerings.

Partnering with bookstores makes sense to me because the target market is readers, and bookstores are a likely place to find them.

Ultimately, that sort of effort is intended to prime the pump. Unless Sony successfully enforces price discipline among retailers, so that everyone charges the $399 MSRP, users interested will buy from the cheapest supplier. So they might see and decide to buy a reader based on an experience in a bookstore, but actually make the purchase elsewhere. Fine by Sony - a sale is a sale.

And what will really sell the device won't be Sony promotion or retailer's efforts - it will be word of mouth from folks who bought and are happy with one. Sony will want to generate that word of mouth.

Dedicated bookshops in the UK are dying anyway. This will be
one more nail in their coffin.

They are still alive here, but the industry is consolidating, and there are far fewer independents. But they aren't going away entirely any time soon.
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by julia103

If I could buy a book as an e-book while in the store, instead of going home to buy it, that would be good. It would be convenient for me as a consumer, and, depending on how the companies set it up, it might mean that some of my money would go to the store where I decided to buy the book. Currently I can spend an hour in Borders but they don't get any of my money because I'm going to buy the book as an e-book if possible.

That's the idea. The bookseller is a retailer. They will buy from a wholesaler or publisher. There will be no fundamental difference between paper and electronic books in that sense. What you pay for the title will be the price the bookseller paid for it plus a markup to cover their costs and make them some money, and they'll get a cut of the proceeds.

Will their price be higher than you might be charged on line? Possibly. Will it be enough higher to outweigh the convenience of browsing and doing paper and ebook purchases all at once and in the same place? Hopefully not.
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Dennis

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

I live within walking distance of a Borders and a Barnes and Noble superstore with cafes. I would not expect the waitstaff to provide that information, or know anything about it. Aside from having to pay them more, if the cafe is successful, they are too busy selling and serving food and beverages to the customers to have the time required for that sort of assistance.

I do expect the sales folks on the floor to have some knowledge of the books they sell and stock, if only to tell me whether they have a title in stock.

You would want something like a docent, who could provide information on readers and available electronic books. That person might well either be based in the cafe, or give scheduled talks on the matter in the cafe, though normally based elsewhere.

A docent would be a good idea, but keep in mind that with the current bookstore cafés, there is a bookstore, and a separate café business within the bookstore. What we are suggesting is that ultimately, the café may be the bookstore, with digital kiosks at the tables, displays of books around on the walls, and an assortment of reader devices for sale. Such an enterprise will compete on features as well as price, and one competitive feature could be knowledgeable staff able to discuss books and reader devices.

[Zaragon]

I personally like reading Science Fiction which is not the sort of book you find in a lot of retailers though Borders and Waterstones generally have a reasonable selection. What there is in London is a specialist book store that sells all sci-fi and on the odd occaisions that I get down there I usually spend several hours browsing and end up with a large credit card bill at the end.

I stopped buying paper books a while ago because I ran out of space to store the books I was buying as I generally like to re-read them a number of times there is very few I dispose of. Which is why I now have an ereader. Not the Sony as it wasn't available when I bought the Iliad. But in this context it doesn't matter.

What does frustrate me with all the online book stores is actually getting to books I might like. Whilst it is easy to jump straight to a book if you know the title or a favourite author it isn't easy to replicate the browsing experience online.

When I get chance to drop in on the specialist or any other large bookstore I spend ages looking at the books not the authors. I generally find a book cover or title will catch my interest and I'll pick it up to read the synopsis and/or dip into a few pages to see if it is something I might like. Not something that is easy to do online. I was looking on the Mobipocket site last night for example and it became painful when it displays 10 books per page and wanting to browse through only 3500 essentially became impossible.

What it means is that I now tend to stick to the authors I know which is a pity because browsing the bookstore what what made them my favourite authors in the first place.

So I agree with the people that are suggesting it would be a good idea for bookstores to be able to sell both how ever it is done. I'd be happy to 'reward' the retailer by buying the electronic version when I'd browsed the paper version even with a small premium as I feel I'd waste less money on books I found I didn't like but couldn't checkout because they were on the web.

[sononkyo]

Wow, great interview.

Looks like Sony has decided to put reading as an important pillar for their media business AND they learned from their mistakes with mp3/iPod. To reach tipping point:

1. Competitive pricing. Make the other Sony division aware of the opportunities: Give the readers away with every Vaio notebook/PC purchase. Isn't that a much better packaging deal? You take a $250 hit but I'm sure you make it up through --->
1a. SOFTWARE. This is the achilles heel of sony. You don't need fancy redesign. The PS3 has a nice clean store interface. Borrow and implement.

Minor:
* Working with ALL publishers (book publishers don't want to be like the record companies with iTunes where they are forced because of necessity. Be a viable alternative for those publishers that will eventually rebel against Amazon's draconian business model)
* Expand on touchscreen technology (the page flip is genius. Don't be complacent with touchscreen! - imitate apple's )
* Ignore feature creep

[Boston]

I can't imagine why the brick-and-mortar stores would partner with Sony unless some POS feature where in the works. I hope it happens as I would hate to see bookstores go the same way as the large record chains. I will occasionally still purchase at the brick-and-mortar stores just because I want to do my part to keep them in business given I do enjoy the experience there.

POS and wireless purchasing, increased content and discounted pricing (even if its through a club), would provide compelling reasons to switch to Sony.

(And I love my Kindle)

[Xenophon]

Dennis:

Nice reporting, and SUPER to hear that you'll be doing some follow-up. I'd like to flog three ideas that you may wish to raise with the Sony folks.

1. Baen's ebook model. I know you're well aware of it; I hope you can make sure that Sony is well aware of it.
2. My suggestions for Mac/Linux/etc. support "on the cheap." See the thread here for information.
3. The one missing feature that would let us power users have convenient support for thousands of books on the reader. It's written up in post three of the above thread.

Good luck following up with Sony. I'm waiting with bated breath to hear what you learn.

Xenophon

[astra]

Originally Posted by Xenophon

1. The one missing feature that would let us power users have convenient support for thousands of books on the reader. It's written up in post three of the above thread.

and it is being...what?

[Xenophon]

Originally Posted by astra

and it is being...what?

Copied from the "Hey Sony" thread in the PRS-700 area of the forums...
While I'm thinking about it, there's also a cheap cheap way to provide support for "convenient access to large numbers of eBooks" that many advanced users have wanted.

This is the key bit:
Give us a hook either in the .lrf format or the Epub format that lets us refer to another file on the same device. All that's needed is the ability to let the 1-10 buttons (on the 500 and 505) or a stylus push (on the 700) open that remote file just as though we were at the main menu.

That hook alone would be enough for a 3rd party--probably an open-source programmer--to write a program that scans the current contents of the Reader and writes an index document. That document could provide whatever view they like of those contents: By author, by title, by tag, by series, by collection, by phase-of-the-moon, by cost of the eBook... whatever!

Sony could look at the modalities the community builds, and build-in the best of them in future firmware. Or just let the community build it for you! Either way, everybody wins.

Xenophon

P.S. If anyone at Mobileread has good contacts at Sony, please pass these ideas on to them! It would be so easy for them to get useful leverage from the open-source community. And, they'd look like friendly good-guys instead of "big bad faceless corporation." What's not to like?

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by astra

and it is being...what?

Read his message again. He pointed the the post in another thread:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30061
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Dennis