Comments on: Amazon to intro e-book reader—perhaps even with E Ink? Engadget report

By: franko

franko — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 02:27:24 +0000

i for one think the device looks retro-cool. after a weekend of
watching star trek for its 40th anniversary, i think it looks
like something spock would glom onto. or maybe it’s tech
design circa star wars, episode IV — like something a
strategist at the secret rebel base would be using.
: )

but in all seriousness, i hope this starts the floodgates opening for ebook readers. i desperately need one!

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 21:34:54 +0000

Oh, how I agree with you about the design, Roland! It doesn’t make e-books look very inviting. Of course, I like elements such as the scroll wheel.

Just as with the Pepper Pad, I could do without the keyboard, but others may disagree. As I said, it’s to Amazon’s credit that it did go with the scroll wheel.

Needless to say, as a follower of E Ink, I’ll be very interested in the page-changing speed.

Thanks,
David

By: Roland Rohde

Roland Rohde — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 21:15:24 +0000

I too am hoping that the Iliad will pull through…
So far we have little to no info about this Amazon device.
DHer at the mobileread.com forums said it’s manufactured by “Hon Hai Precision Industries.” Seems that the company is better-known under the name Foxconn.

I guess we’ll know more soon. One thing that really strikes me as odd is the design…what do they think they’re doing??? I don’t need highly polished design for my gadgets, but this thing is just..ugly…at least that’s the way it looks on the blurry pics we’ve seen so far…

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 19:59:43 +0000

Many thanks for your thoughts, Roland. Let’s see what the prices of both the device and the books end up being. Like you, I do think it’ll help to be able to read public domain books, but it’s still scary having Amazon with such influence re copyrighted books. Remember, low prices can be raised later on when Amazon has enough market share. Publishers and authors can be squeezed.

As for the number of books, I’m expecting they’ll be at least the same number as in Mobipocket.

So I wonder what Sony’s response will be—if any. Here’s a thought. Will Sony decide not to go ahead with the Sony Reader, now that Amazon is taking away its content advantage?

About the iLiad. I sure hope they can solve their problems and lower the price and do well with their open approach. Since I last posted, I’ve heard from someone else with a set of problems very similar to Genene’s. Any interesting info at this point on the actual builders of the Amazon device?

Thanks,
David

By: Roland Rohde

Roland Rohde — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 19:23:17 +0000

Hey David!

You certainly put the Amazon reader in a gloomy light…:-)

I usually agree with you when it comes to DRM bashing, but with Amazon I’m a bit more hopeful…I’ve been a fan of Amazon for ages, their huge database of paper books, their good customer support (at least in Germany) and their innovative “book-recommendation-advertising” really work for me.
I can’t really say much about the device yet, apart from the fact that it looks ugly as hell…^^

My take in this case is the following:

If Amazon makes their whole (or at least a big part of…) book-collection available at discount prices for its proprietary reader and if the reader also works with the public domain books already around, I’d gladly put down my money this instant, dump the Iliad and be happy for the rest of my life…okay…slight exaggeration there…:-)
They probably won’t do that though, they’ll try to sell the books at about the same price as the paper books and they’ll only offer a small selection of titles…so I’ll probably be back and join David in opposing the new device and its attached book-delivery…^^

One thing that is undoubtedly good is the fact that Amazon can put enormous pressure on authors and publishers…that could finally be enough to break the dam and start the ebook flood…