Sony PRS-700 Reader launch in New York City

[jerryleejr]

Originally Posted by mdibella

Eventually I would love to see this scenario at a retailer:

I go in to browse (because for a book lover there is nothing like the joy of spending time in a bookstore)...and as I wander around I see various interesting-looking offerings. I read the insider covers, maybe I read a few pages, and I decide which books I want. Right there on the shelf is some indication that the ebook is available, and I either swipe my credit card, or take a bit of paper with the scanner code, or whatever.

When I'm done choosing, I go to the register, hand the cashier my credit card AND my ebook reader, and the books are loaded onto it.

Well, in other words, I guess it works a bit like Amazon...but (I am sorry Amazon, I love you but this is a big BUT) they simply cannot duplicate the shelf full of colorful spines facing me, with the titles, the authors, and the chance to open the book to a page and random and start to read. Bookstores are special places!

I definitely agree with your concept, To tweek it a bit for those of us that doesnt pack our reader with us all the time and the fact none of the Sony's are WIFI enable yet. Lets simplify the process. Most bookstores have a rewards card of some sort. How about we tie in your Sony account to that card so all you do is take the barcode to a kiosk or register scan it, swipe your Rewards card and then Payment option. It can be set up to auto pay from your sony account just like the Software does. Or insert Credit card, cash etc like the self checkout lines at Wal-Mart. Your card can have a pin for security, or prompt for a password. Or instead of carrying around a card for every retailer that offers one, Sony can release one to work with all the different stores. When I get the card I can go in and register my Borders info so that purchases will count for that card as well. The possibilities are endless even other web retailers can get in on this. I personally like to shop the shelves and decide if I like a book. If it is one that I like I put it on my list and when I get home I check ebook availability. When you see a book on the shelf it should be tagged in some way to identify and ebook version. Just some Ideas dont know if they will see the light of day.

JJ

[scottcstoness2]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

I can think of a couple of ways to do it.

Once wifi is available on the device, it's simple -- the customer connects to an instore wifi hotspot and downloads. Selections can be made from a list at a kiosk, and paid for by credit card. Once the charges are authorized, the customer connects via wifi and downloads the purchases.

For devices without wifi, the solution might be a kiosk for selection, with books copied to an SD card dispensed by the kiosk.

We'll see.
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Dennis

Ideally, you'd be able to grab a book off the shelf, take it to the Sony kiosk, scan the barcode, run your Borders card through a reader(which would be tied into your Sony Connect Account), and then run your credit card. When you get home, the book is waiting in your Sony Connect Library (ideally now web-based) to be transferred to your reader. An Optional SD slot to get the book or even USB plug-in for the reader itself are also possibilities for those who want the book accessible immediately.

ScS

Edit: OK, clearly should have read farther, most of these ideas have been mentioned already. The main point is that multiple options for a brick and mortar shopping experience are possible, and probably technically much simpler than those talking self-checkout counters at the grocery store :-)

[axel77]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Regarding the size-of-business issue, big companies are inherently less efficient than small companies with regard to management structure, but usually expect larger margins per sale, partially because their management structures only come in size XXXL. I think both of these factors contribute to their need for much larger volumes than smaller companies.

Thats why I said ROI including management costs. Larger cooperations have more mangement costs, so their total ROI is smaller on the same job as a smaller company. On the otherhand they can profit of economies of scope. Like Sony has more knowledge already on device development as a newcomer company.

Nevertheless the question is, is the market big enough worth taking the costs of developing a device? And in this regard in really doesn't matter if you are a selfsustained newcomer company getting money from investors, or if you are a devision of a enourmous concern, getting money from the concern funds.

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

And the question senior management will make will be "What is the best place to invest these funds that will produce the highest return?"

Every company is standing before this problem.

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.

I don't know about NY taxis, but the question about producing dedicated vehicles for that market is a question about productivity: can 15,000 vehicles finance a development of a dedicated vehicle? In this sense it again doesn't matter that much if the company wanting to undertake that endavour is big or small.

And the size of that investment will impose corresponding requirements for profitability. Again, senior management will ask "Can we make a better return investing these funds elsewhere?", and if they think they can, they may just pull the plug on the existing operation.

Usually no. They won't just pull the plug as long the operation as long it is more profitable than the total costs (including costs of investment compared to interest rates). When they decide to leave a sector they will usually just stop any further investments/development into it, sucking every cent out of the sector until it is no longer profitable because other competitors will develop. In strategic market some call this "milking the cow".

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

I didn't say that. I said they had a higher cost of entry and proportional return requirements. Big companies cannot profitably undertake small jobs. There have been an assortment of instances where a larger company has spun off a new operation as a separate company, for precisely that reason. As a new operation, the start up may not be able to bear the burden imposed by being a part of the parent. Split off as a legally and financially separate organization, the numbers change.

Indeed spinning off might be a good idea or a bad depending on many variables. I just fail to see how Sony deciding to continue the eInk device operations within the mother cooperation proofes anything more about their assumption of the eInk market compared to Phillips that decided it would be a good idea to make a spinoff (most likely with their money) to develop this device.

It can? Looked at the credit markets lately?

Well regardless of the messyness of the current market the basic assumption still holds that an economic endavour is attractive when the total ROI (including management costs and risk) is higher than the interest rate. If you have any idea how you can make more money than the interest rate you can borrow money. If your endavour is less than the interest rate, you won't do it, you'd rather borrow that money someone else. Thats why the state of the finance market is so important for any business. And thats why by changing a single variable like the interest rate in economic politics you can make enourmous effects on your countries economical activity.

Economics 101

[Dr. Drib]

Dennis:

Thank you for attending this event and representing MobileRead. Your report was not only informative but also interesting.


Don

[Mycropht]

Dennis, thank you for the great article on the Sony event!

Was anything said about the new Epson controller? Is it in the PRS-700?
Based on the pictures so far, I would say no, but one can always hope...

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Mycropht

Dennis, thank you for the great article on the Sony event!

Was anything said about the new Epson controller? Is it in the PRS-700?
Based on the pictures so far, I would say no, but one can always hope...

How can you tell if the 700 has the Epson controller or not based on the photos we've seen so far?

[TallMomof2]

Originally Posted by axel77

Sorry but why does the size of a company have to do anything with profitably requires? If you can estimate an investment of X to have say 20% profit on investment return, its good, big company or startup company.

One can point out that bigger companies don't worry about smaller X, that is smaller oppurtinieties to make out of not so much money +20%. Because they got more paperwork to do, as when a smaller company takes an opportunity of smaller volume. But the profit margin itself it really IMHO does not matter how big the company is.

Not that I would like any hint of readers to be fruitfull markets and not that I actually believe they are. But this argument above presented here as "main argument" is IMHO just a logic fallacy.

DH used to work for a huge networking company for a total of 13 years. 71% was the required profit margin for a new product. Anything less and the product was not launched. I realize that Sony may not require such astronomical return on investment but I'm sure it is substantial.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

Thank you, Dennis!! Reading your report makes me feel almost as if I have been there myself.

You're welcome. I was happy to do it.

Expect more on the topic as I follow up with contacts I made there.
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Dennis

[Mycropht]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

How can you tell if the 700 has the Epson controller or not based on the photos we've seen so far?

I cannot, not with any certainty, but with the new controller I am expecting a more advanced GUI and I am seeing none of it on the PRS-700. E.g., the new controller is supposed to bring basic animation elements to the GUI and somehow the interface does not look as it is using any animations. Admittedly, I have seen only some photos so this is pure guesswork.

There must be a ton of PRS-700 videos somewhere. Why I can't find any? Link, anyone?

Also, I haven't seen full specifications yet. I would really like to know the resolution of the touchscreen...

Btw, I am not complaining. Given a choice, I would buy it yesterday.

[JSWolf]

Thing is, an animated menu would use more battery. So it could still use an Epson controller even though the menus have no animation.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Mycropht

Dennis, thank you for the great article on the Sony event!

You're quite welcome.

Was anything said about the new Epson controller? Is it in the PRS-700?
Based on the pictures so far, I would say no, but one can always hope...

Nope. As mentioned, there was little in the way of technical detail presented. I asked about technical specs, but Steve didn't have a pointer offhand.

It's a followup question.
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Mycropht

There must be a ton of PRS-700 videos somewhere. Why I can't find any? Link, anyone?

What I've found thus far is here.

Also, I haven't seen full specifications yet. I would really like to know the resolution of the touchscreen...

So would I. Sony's news site says specs for the PRS-700 are "coming soon".
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Dennis

[Mycropht]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Thing is, an animated menu would use more battery. So it could still use an Epson controller even though the menus have no animation.

Agreed. Anyway, I wouldn't mind recharging my dream e-book reader even once a day.

Just for the record, my dream e-book reader has touchscreen, wireless and a screen/CPU fast enough for Web browsing - if I want to research the text I am reading. Battery life is secondary and I can live without a color screen.

With the PRS-700 I hope to be able to put a dictionary and the Wikipedia on a memory card and to be able to do word lookup. In that case, I would survive without wireless. Maybe it is even better to have less radio pollution around while reading.

[bbusybookworm]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

What I've found thus far is here.


So would I. Sony's news site says specs for the PRS-700 are "coming soon".
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Dennis

Huh?

The only video I found there was on the 505, no mention of the 700.

Its not a bad marketing video, but it isn't what I was looking for.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by axel77

Nevertheless the question is, is the market big enough worth taking the costs of developing a device? And in this regard in really doesn't matter if you are a selfsustained newcomer company getting money from investors, or if you are a devision of a enourmous concern, getting money from the concern funds.

The answer to "Is the market big enough" will depend upon who you are. Smaller companies can address markets that bigger companies can't touch.

I don't know about NY taxis, but the question about producing dedicated vehicles for that market is a question about productivity: can 15,000 vehicles finance a development of a dedicated vehicle? In this sense it again doesn't matter that much if the company wanting to undertake that endavour is big or small.

Simple answer: it isn't.

The Museum of Modern Art in NYC had a competition years back to come up with designs for a vehicle purpose built to be a taxi. There were some splendid designs, but the effort ultimately foundered on the fact that the market simply wasn't large enough for anyone to make one. The costs of tooling up to produce a such a vehicle were far greater than the potential revenue from selling them. This is why the GM engineer I mentioned didn't quite roll on the floor laughing at the idea GM could do one. GM needs to sell something like 500,000 to 600,000 of a model to do it at all.

The only manufacturer who actually addressed the taxi market was the old Checker Motors corporation, in Kalamozoo, Michigan. They made the famous Checker cab (and I think there are still a few running in NYC), and a consumer model called the Marathon. Checker got away with it because they were a custom coach maker. They just built a custom body. They used engines, drive train, and chassis from Chevrolet. They no longer exist.

Usually no. They won't just pull the plug as long the operation as long it is more profitable than the total costs (including costs of investment compared to interest rates). When they decide to leave a sector they will usually just stop any further investments/development into it, sucking every cent out of the sector until it is no longer profitable because other competitors will develop. In strategic market some call this "milking the cow".

Maybe.

The usual corporate impulse is to try to maximize profit. But this is misleading, as the basic question is "How much profit is required?" The answer to that is simple: profit must be enough to cover the marginal cost of capital. That number may be higher than the maximum profit the company thinks it can make. In that case, the operation may not be long for this world...

Companies will use existing operations as "cash cows" to finance other developments, but the "cash cows" have to throw off enormous amounts of cash.

Again, management has the duty to invest funds where they make the greatest return. An operation that is profitable, but not profitable enough has problems. And how much is "enough" depends upon the industry and the company.

As an example pertinent to what MobileRead is interested in, take publishing. The industry went through an upheaval some years back as multi-media conglomerates acquired publishing houses to complement their existing operations in movies, TV, music, and gaming. They thought they saw synergies in having multiple forms of content under one roof. Those associations are beginning to unravel. For instance, TimeWarner sold off the Warner Books division to Hachette, who renamed it Grand Central Publishing. The problem was simple: book publishing can't achieve the levels of revenue and profitability possible in things like movies and TV.

Conglomerates in other media areas with publishing operations are finding that out the hard way. Their publishing arms are under intense pressure to boost revenue and profit (IE: publish more best sellers), and some publishing arms are being divested. They simply don't fit with what the larger company is doing. They are profitable, but not profitable enough

Indeed spinning off might be a good idea or a bad depending on many variables. I just fail to see how Sony deciding to continue the eInk device operations within the mother cooperation proofes anything more about their assumption of the eInk market compared to Phillips that decided it would be a good idea to make a spinoff (most likely with their money) to develop this device.

Axel, my basic point is simple: Sony is a big company, and requires big numbers to justify doing something. Big companies cannot profitably address little jobs. I don't know what Sony's real numbers are, in unit sales, revenue, or profitability for the reader, or what they see the potential as being. I am quite certain that they need far higher numbers than smaller outfits like Bookeen or iRex.

Sony wants growth. Note that the Reader operation is now a separate division. Sony appears to see a significant market in electronic literature and devices to display it, and is addressing that market. Sony is a huge outfit, with a market capitalization of 29 billion dollars. What do you think "growth" means for an outfit that size? (See here for an overview of their numbers.)

Sony needs to sell a lot of readers.
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Dennis