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Asus to enter e-book market; MSI considering it
August 27, 2009 | 10:55 am
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By Chris Meadows
For some time, netbooks such as the Eee have been discussed as a possible e-book-reading solution. Well, now DigiTimes reports that Asus will be launching an Eee-branded e-book reader (an “Eee-book reader”?) possibly by the end of 2009, and MSI is considering an e-reader of its own.
The sources pointed out that the requirements for entering the e-book reader market are even lower than for netbooks, but the key to success lies in establishing a content delivery platform.
The article is fairly short and sparse on details (it does mention that e-book readers are more popular in North America and Europe than in Asia, due to differences in reading habits), so there is not a lot of information here to go on. Regardless, it is interesting to watch the e-book reader market start to heat up.
Here’s hoping Asus (and possibly MSI) will be smart enough to go with industry-standard formats to minimize further market fragmentation.
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Comments:
Hopefully the comments about a “content delivery platform” don’t mean that they intend to duplicate the Amazon or Sony model of a device/store combination. A device that can easily purchase books from any site or service is more functional and desirable than a device locked into a single delivery system. The existing Asian market (where people use whatever cellphones they have to view content) should ably demonstrate that to them.
Hopefully they’ll just concentrate on their forte, making a good reader, capable of browsing the web and buying from any service, and leave the creation of those services to others.
If Asus Jumps in, Acer won’t be far behind.
And the way things are going, probably HTC and Nokia, too.
Just hearing Asus will have color is enough for me – about time!