How long before there is a $50 E-ink reader?

[charmian]

When do you think there will be a $50 entry level e-ink reader? I'm talking about list price, not sale price or price after rebates.

[GA Russell]

I think that the list prices of "current" models will hover around $100 for years to come, and that it will be the prices of "last year's models" that will sink to the $50 level.

I suppose that whether the manufacturers refer to the prices of the old models as new list prices or as sale prices doesn't matter.

[ardeegee]

I think that the real factor is how low the production cost of e-ink panels can drop with increase in volume and the maturing of the manufacturing process. At the moment, they are-- I assume-- still the most expensive component in an ebook reader. But I don't see any fundamental reason why they would always have to be much more expensive than LCD panels-- how much does an 6 inch LCD panel wholesale for? Five bucks? Less?

When we have $5.00 eink panels, we can have $50 readers.

[PG4003]

Maybe the question should be when will there be a quality $50 e-ink reader?

[charmian]

How would you define "quality"?

[carld]

I would expect some sort of reader to be hovering close to the $50 mark by next holiday season. It probably won't be from one of the big boys though.

[PG4003]

Originally Posted by charmian

How would you define "quality"?

Don't anybody throw anything at me because this is my opinion....but "quality" to me (in ereader world) is Kindle.

[Rainmaker]

Originally Posted by PG4003

Don't anybody throw anything at me because this is my opinion....but "quality" to me (in ereader world) is Kindle.

He is just playing "technical" with.
In Engineering (specially industrial engineering which studies the production process).
Quality is not an "absolut" term, if not as "how close you get to the desired atributes of your product".
For example if I (Amazon) pretended a battery cicle of 720 hours (30 days); and my average kindle would last for 700 hours, then quality is 95%.

Quality is referred also as the relation between the resource and the atribute.
Example of an e-reader case: Sony PRS uses metal cases and kindle uses plastic ones.
Metal cases are more resistant but more expensive, while kindle ones are not as much as the Sony ones, but are cheaper (less expensive).

IMHO; Kindle is doing a good job, as its becoming the "Market Standard", that is, the one everyone uses as reference to compare (same as "Microsoft" with most software or OS for computers, or Firefox for internet browsers).
That being said, Kindle remains the basic needs and propierties an e-reader must have:
e-ink pearl screen
1 month battery last
PC connectivity: Wifi+USB

etc...

[apbschmitz]

I wonder if eReaders will be like inkjet printers back in the day, when manufacturers were happy to give them away so you'd be buying ink cartridges for years to come. Seems to me that the money is in selling the content, not selling the device. So why not make the device as cheap as possible?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by charmian

How would you define "quality"?

Those cheap $100 ereader/tablets from drugstores ain't quality.

[PG4003]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Those cheap $100 ereader/tablets from drugstores ain't quality.

Totally agree!

[soondai]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Those cheap $100 ereader/tablets from drugstores ain't quality.

while this is true, my Pandigital novel (60 bucks) is my preferred and most used reader by far. I sleep in a room with a wife and baby and absolutely love using Aldiko (the 1.xx version) with grey text on a black background. Throws off very little light but very easy to read.

My sony e-ink is an orphan. I haven't read a book on it in months.

No way a clip on light or ear light would work half as well. Especially since I lay on my side most of the time.

[jersysman]

I really don't see it happening. I think by the time that they get the production costs low enough, there will be a technology that comes along that will obsolete eInk. What is it? I have no idea. But, it will happen.

[RainingLemur]

I could see it being next year some time.

[bobavey]

I think it will happen within a year.