De Tijd-iLiad e-paper trial has been fruitful after all

Alexander Turcic · 11-21-2006, 06:59 PM

Information is constantly pouring in from multiple sources and sometimes it's difficult to tell right from wrong. Last week we heard from a Swedish newspaper that many readers who were involved in the De Tijd e-paper trial returned their iLiad devices within the first two weeks. But according to our well-placed inside source at iRex this is not true. Moreover, he shared with us some of the findings made by the De Tijd e-paper project leader IBBT:

Almost 90% of the test persons would decide to join the test again, when the prototype issues were addressed.
Almost 50% of the test persons would decide to buy the product when the prototype issues were addressed.

By mere coincidence I stumbled upon this recent IBBT presentation (PDF) that discusses the outcome of the trial in detail. You should check it out, especially if you are interested in learning more about the possible future business models involving e-books (B2B vs. B2C).

CommanderROR · 11-21-2006, 07:29 PM

Interesting...apparently people were already complaining about battery-life then...:-)

It was still 4 hours at that point according to the presentation...

vranghel · 11-21-2006, 11:47 PM

No wonder they were complaining!

Look at us: 10 hours and we're still complaining!

tribble · 11-22-2006, 03:13 AM

And right we are

Riocaz · 11-22-2006, 05:59 AM

Not to mention it also expresses concern over the boot-up times.

nekokami · 11-22-2006, 08:11 AM

They were also asking for zoom and complaining about navigation. Zoom has since been addressed, at least.

Some of the models proposed don't look that attractive to me. (I wish people could see beyond DRM.) And newspapers are only of marginal interest to me. But I was glad to see the comments about the "long tail" idea. Offering publishers a way to make money from existing-- but out of print-- content may be the sweetener needed for the deal.

Steven Lyle Jordan · 11-22-2006, 04:03 PM

In the previous discussion on this, I mentioned that hardware issues clearly needed to be addressed. (Okay, that's all the patting myself on the back that I'll do here!)

That Amazon quote-- "We sold more books today that didn't sell at all yesterday than we sold today of all the books that did sell yesterday." --left my head swimming! Who writes for these guys, Groucho Marx? But seriously, folks, I like the Long Tail concept... anything that would make the readers more useful and practical.

Anyway, I think they're spot-on in expecting (hoping for?) a new selling model that will put the device in demand, and give paper-lovers a reason to switch. Maybe we need to get a thread started debating that new selling model?

scotty1024 · 11-22-2006, 06:54 PM

Long tail is one idea.

Another I think is interesting is chopping off the tail. Make the publishers pay a per title, per media format copyright tax per year. This would help get titles into the public domain to make them more easily available to everyone.

Capitalism only flourishes when there is competition. When copyrights/patents are used to create a monopoly everyone suffers.

Alexander Turcic · 12-12-2006, 06:07 AM

Jak Boumans has some more information on the outcome of the De Tijd experiment:

His final thoughts:
So far the iLiad has proven that it the screen is an absolute pleasure to the eye. But from De Tijd experiment it is also clear that the iLiad is something of the remote future. It is not a break-through for the publishing industry like the iPod was for the music industry. The big question is now how remote is remote: short term, middle long term or long term?

henkvdg · 12-12-2006, 12:08 PM

The First part: http://buziaulane.blogspot.com/2006_...e_archive.html

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

Jak Boumans has some more information on the outcome of the De Tijd experiment:

His final thoughts:
So far the iLiad has proven that it the screen is an absolute pleasure to the eye. But from De Tijd experiment it is also clear that the iLiad is something of the remote future. It is not a break-through for the publishing industry like the iPod was for the music industry. The big question is now how remote is remote: short term, middle long term or long term?

Alexander Turcic · 12-12-2006, 12:25 PM

Oops... thank you!

thisss · 07-05-2009, 09:35 AM

Thanks for the weblinks. I was just wondering if the IBBT did publish a final report on the study. Does somebody know more about it?

11-21-2006, 06:59 PM	#1
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 18,175 Karma: 14021202 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Too many to count here.	De Tijd-iLiad e-paper trial has been fruitful after all Information is constantly pouring in from multiple sources and sometimes it's difficult to tell right from wrong. Last week we heard from a Swedish newspaper that many readers who were involved in the De Tijd e-paper trial returned their iLiad devices within the first two weeks. But according to our well-placed inside source at iRex this is not true. Moreover, he shared with us some of the findings made by the De Tijd e-paper project leader IBBT: Almost 90% of the test persons would decide to join the test again, when the prototype issues were addressed. Almost 50% of the test persons would decide to buy the product when the prototype issues were addressed. By mere coincidence I stumbled upon this recent IBBT presentation (PDF) that discusses the outcome of the trial in detail. You should check it out, especially if you are interested in learning more about the possible future business models involving e-books (B2B vs. B2C).

12-12-2006, 06:07 AM	#9
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 18,175 Karma: 14021202 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Too many to count here.	Jak Boumans has some more information on the outcome of the De Tijd experiment: http://buziaulane.blogspot.com/2006/...wspaper-2.html http://buziaulane.blogspot.com/2006/...wspaper-3.html http://buziaulane.blogspot.com/2006/...wspaper-4.html http://buziaulane.blogspot.com/2006/...wspaper-5.html http://buziaulane.blogspot.com/2006/...wspaper-6.html http://buziaulane.blogspot.com/2006/...per-close.html His final thoughts: So far the iLiad has proven that it the screen is an absolute pleasure to the eye. But from De Tijd experiment it is also clear that the iLiad is something of the remote future. It is not a break-through for the publishing industry like the iPod was for the music industry. The big question is now how remote is remote: short term, middle long term or long term?

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11-21-2006, 07:29 PM	#2
CommanderROR eink fanatic Posts: 2,022 Karma: 4924 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Germany Device: STAReBOOK, iRex Iliad, Sony 505, Kindle 2	Interesting...apparently people were already complaining about battery-life then...:-) It was still 4 hours at that point according to the presentation...

11-21-2006, 11:47 PM	#3
vranghel Addict Posts: 285 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Vancouver, Canada Device: Proud Iliad owner	No wonder they were complaining! Look at us: 10 hours and we're still complaining!

11-22-2006, 03:13 AM	#4
tribble iLiad Maniac Posts: 1,382 Karma: 2369 Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Germany Device: Bookeen Opus (i love that thing) and iPad (what an irony)	And right we are

11-22-2006, 05:59 AM	#5
Riocaz Fulfilled but not by iRex Posts: 932 Karma: 286846 Join Date: May 2006 Location: London Device: Far too many	Not to mention it also expresses concern over the boot-up times.

11-22-2006, 08:11 AM	#6
nekokami fruminous edugeek Posts: 6,745 Karma: 551260 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Northeast US Device: iPad, eBw 1150	They were also asking for zoom and complaining about navigation. Zoom has since been addressed, at least. Some of the models proposed don't look that attractive to me. (I wish people could see beyond DRM.) And newspapers are only of marginal interest to me. But I was glad to see the comments about the "long tail" idea. Offering publishers a way to make money from existing-- but out of print-- content may be the sweetener needed for the deal.

11-22-2006, 04:03 PM	#7
Steven Lyle Jordan Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,478 Karma: 5171130 Join Date: Jan 2006 Device: none	In the previous discussion on this, I mentioned that hardware issues clearly needed to be addressed. (Okay, that's all the patting myself on the back that I'll do here!) That Amazon quote-- "We sold more books today that didn't sell at all yesterday than we sold today of all the books that did sell yesterday." --left my head swimming! Who writes for these guys, Groucho Marx? But seriously, folks, I like the Long Tail concept... anything that would make the readers more useful and practical. Anyway, I think they're spot-on in expecting (hoping for?) a new selling model that will put the device in demand, and give paper-lovers a reason to switch. Maybe we need to get a thread started debating that new selling model?

11-22-2006, 06:54 PM	#8
scotty1024 Banned Posts: 1,300 Karma: 1479 Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Peoples Republic of Washington Device: Reader / iPhone / Librie / Kindle	Long tail is one idea. Another I think is interesting is chopping off the tail. Make the publishers pay a per title, per media format copyright tax per year. This would help get titles into the public domain to make them more easily available to everyone. Capitalism only flourishes when there is competition. When copyrights/patents are used to create a monopoly everyone suffers.

12-12-2006, 12:25 PM	#11
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 18,175 Karma: 14021202 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Too many to count here.	Oops... thank you!

07-05-2009, 09:35 AM	#12
thisss Member Posts: 10 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Bern, Switzerland Device: none	Thanks for the weblinks. I was just wondering if the IBBT did publish a final report on the study. Does somebody know more about it?

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