iRex iLiad not before September 2006 for consumers

[Alexander Turcic]

"Sales iLiad about to start," iRex Technologies said euphemistically on its web site today. To tell you the truth, I am somewhat disappointed about the news. It says, simply put, that if you're not among their chosen customers, you'll have to wait at least till September to receive the "consumer version" of the iRex iLiad reader. Heated discussions are already on the roll:

Check irex: game on..
Will you refrain from buying the irex Iliad? (poll)
Suggestions for Functionality of the "consumer" iLiad
Light at the end of the Tunnel (thanks Loeki)
Today is the last day of May!

Now, before you jump the iRex ship, one of our readers, JTurner, claims to have spoken to a Sony sales person saying that the Sony Portable Reader won't be out before end of August either. Anybody care to bite?

[anansi]

right then what other ebook devices are being manufactured? if I'm going to late that long maybe I'll wait just a bit longer for a more promising device

[Riocaz]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

It says, simply put, that if you're not among their chosen customers, you'll have to wait at least till September to receive the "consumer version" of the iRex iLiad reader.

That statement is annoyingly vague. I have been reading it to mean that Irex won't be selling it directly to consumers but their B2B partners might. But that they recommend you wait until September for their consumer version. Which they will market directly.

But as I said it's vague and therefore open to interpretation.

[Laurens]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

"Sales iLiad about to start," iRex Technologies said euphemistically on its web site today.

They are talking to their business partners here. They're focused on B2B to begin with, so every statement has to be seen in that light.

[rmeister0]

What happened to the web store during May?

Oh well...it isn't like I can't buy paper books in the meantime. I just wish somebody in some industry, somewhere, could announce a ship date they actually make.

[yvanleterrible]

By august does anyone think color e-ink will be incorporated in these readers?
Thinking since february that e-ink e-books would be available by may, I have gathered a good deal of e-books. My old tired eyes can not endure without crying,(nothing to do with the content of the books) more than 15 mins. on any flickering screen like pdas and computersI guess I'll have to print a couple of books soon... or go to a library !

[Liviu_5]

Hi,

Try the Ebookwise1150. It is not expensive and it's very easy on the eyes, also you can have big fonts. You need open format (html, txt, rtf) text based e-books (so no pdf's unless they are text so you can extract for free with ghostview/ghostgum for example on xp, or you can ocr).
Also the Nokia 770 though more expensive can be nicely customized (Fbreader actually) to black background and a soothing text colour (yellow for example) and it is very easy on the eyes. Same about content as in the Ebookwise.

Liviu

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

By august does anyone think color e-ink will be incorporated in these readers?
Thinking since february that e-ink e-books would be available by may, I have gathered a good deal of e-books. My old tired eyes can not endure without crying,(nothing to do with the content of the books) more than 15 mins. on any flickering screen like pdas and computersI guess I'll have to print a couple of books soon... or go to a library !

[CCDMan]

OK, that pretty much makes my decision for me. It will probably be Sony for me.

At least Sony is a company whose living is consumers, and that has to be better than what IRex is up to, regardless of the negatives recently associated with Sony.

...Sony sales person saying that the Sony Portable Reader won't be out before end of August either...

Of course, who knows when Sony will finally get off the curb?

The one thing I know for sure is that the paper book publishers will sell me a bunch more paper books for summer reading that COULD have been sales for Sony or IRex.

You really gotta wonder what is wrong with these companies. We see this over, and over, and over, and over, and ....... You would think they would learn.

[NatCh]

@ yvanleterrible

Well on 10/18/2005 e-Ink announced they'd developed a 12 bit color film. However, it's only 400X300, 83 ppi resolution (6 inch diagonal), and they say: "Mass production of color electronic paper displays is expected to start at the end of 2006, with future plans for flexible versions."

I think I read somewhere that the refresh on the color was still pretty slow, but I can't find it again, so take that with a grain of salt.

The info is all a half-year old, anyway, with no updates that I can find on e-Ink's site, so who knows where they might be by now.

[eumesmo]

This is truly absurd, they need to stop announcing new technology, when was e-ink first announced? 2002 perhaps? I must say I gaining new respect for the pulp cartel.

[jæd]

Originally Posted by CCDMan

OK, that pretty much makes my decision for me. It will probably be Sony for me.

At least Sony is a company whose living is consumers, and that has to be better than what IRex is up to, regardless of the negatives recently associated with Sony.


Of course, who knows when Sony will finally get off the curb?

The one thing I know for sure is that the paper book publishers will sell me a bunch more paper books for summer reading that COULD have been sales for Sony or IRex.

You really gotta wonder what is wrong with these companies. We see this over, and over, and over, and over, and ....... You would think they would learn.

Yep... I think that Sony is the better bet now... I've actually held a Japanese version of the Sony Raeder in my hands... Ok, so it won't be as functional, but it might actually ship in 2006...

The Illiad is a nice idea. Pity its just an idea...

I wonder if there's anyway to be taken off Irex's notification list...? Its a spam list for me now...!

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by eumesmo

This is truly absurd, they need to stop announcing new technology, when was e-ink first announced? 2002 perhaps?

The earliest press mention I can find of them (from their website, anyway) is 03/26/1997, so they've been around a while. I also saw earlier references to the color version as far back as 2002. <shrug>

[eumesmo]

Sometimes I wonder if I just live in communist la la land, but doesn't e-ink make projects like the $100 laptop, and even computers in schools mute? Why isn't the government interested? Why does it feel it will die before it leaves the ground?

[Gameboy70]

Can't say I'm shocked about the delay. I've been an early adopter for years, and have been through this cycle of release date revisions and omissions for some Shiny New Thing more times than I can count. After a while you become pretty zen about shifting goalposts.

What does get me is the today's revelation that the iLiad can only get wireless content through iDS. Now that's a setback worth talking about. Hopefully, the extra 2 months will cultivate an enlightened change of heart. I would gladly take an as-is iLiad with an open connection and no bundle of software value-adds (which we'll get anyway with updates) than crippled WiFi and lots of extra software.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by eumesmo

...doesn't e-ink make projects like the $100 laptop, and even computers in schools mute....

No, it doesn't moot those ideas (whether they be good or bad ones, I'll not comment upon).

E-Ink is just another display tech -- granted an unusually readable, easy on the eyes type dislpay tech. And it's still relatively expensive, I expect (but that's a guess).

Right now, its slow refresh rate (1/2 second to refresh the screen) makes it suitable for a fairly limited range of applications. When they get its refresh rate up to something similar to current "standard" display tech, it'll show up on laptops & PDAs and such.