Astak Mentor eBook readers with WiFi and Touchscreen (read-only)

[HarryT]

You say that "they will not open from the hard drive". Do you mean by that that they won't open on your PC's desktop PDF viewer? If that is the case, it would probably indicate that the PDF files are corrupt in some way.

[arioste]

Hello Bob !!!
Would you have some news of the Ebook's market . Is it taking off in USA ? Could you give me some figures ?
We know very little here in France and I am a professionnal curious !
durieuxj@wanadoo.fr

Thanks

[arioste]

Hello !
I am writing from Paris France : Journalist, new reader of EBook, enthusiast etc...
Would you please tell me (if you know anything about it of course) where I could find some news of this device's market ?

Tha&nks a lot : this is my email just in case : durieuxj@wanadoo.fr

[emellaich]

Arioste,

The best you will find in terms of market size is some educated guess'. Find transcripts from the Amazon press conference on the Kindle 2 and you will see a quote by the CEO of Amazon that something like 10% of unit sales are Kindle sales. Here is the Live Blog from Engadget and the quote as they transcribe it:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/09/l...ss-conference/

"More than 10% of the units we sell are Kindle book sales -- that's astonishing. So what happened? 230,000 things happened, and that's Kindle books. Even the best device without selection is useless."

There has been a lot of argument by what is meant by this figure. I read it literally that 10% of the total book sales are Kindle books. The second figure, 230,000 is how many physical books are available as Kindle (electronic) books. In other words the second figure has nothing to do with actual sales.

Even though I do read this to mean that 10% of all books sold are Kindles, I have to admit that I find this hard to believe. Search around on the capacity of the supplier of the e-ink screens and you will discover that they have capacity of roughly 500,000 per year. That means that Sony + Amazon + Irex + Cybook + Jinke + ... equals 500,000 since the Kindle I was announced. Even if Amazon is half of the total that only gives you 250,000 Kindles. I guess you could assume that Kindle buyers are all your highest volume readers, and use the Pareto rule (20/80) and that would extrapolate such that only a few percent of buyers could = 10% of all sales. However 10% does feel like a stretch.

Use google and do a search on PVI capacity of Eink. Search for Amazon Kindle sales. See what you find out. At this time, your guess will be as good as mine or anyone else's.

Michael

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by emellaich

The second figure, 230,000 is how many physical books are available as Kindle (electronic) books.

Not necessarily true. Remember that a very large proportion (I'd guess well over half) the items in the Kindle store are "self-published", and are almost certainly NOT available as "physical books".

[emellaich]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Not necessarily true. Remember that a very large proportion (I'd guess well over half) the items in the Kindle store are "self-published", and are almost certainly NOT available as "physical books".

Sorry for my imprecise language. I was trying to help the guy out. By physical books I meant, things you could read. I suspect it also includes newspapers, magazines, etcetera.

Of course my writing is only one view of the market anyway. It doesn't take into account iphone software, mobipocket and others. It does however, apply to the e-ink reader market -- which may be many of the higher volume users.

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by Xenophon

Misfires are actually less of an issue than supporting convenient rotation of the device to have any of its four sides as the top. Add to that button placement that allows convenient (and symmetric!) right- or left-handed use.

With the REB-1100, for example, if you held the device with your hand on the long edge at the balance point, the "next page" button fell directly beneath the thumb of the hand that was holding it. And this was true whether you held it right-handed or left-handed... in spite of the 180-degree rotation! You know this, of course, because you tried one out! It's an important feature because it allows users to hold the reader with either hand with equivalent ergonomics. It's also the kind of thing I meant by "get this right..." Rotational symmetry turns out to be a big deal!

By the way, it's not just an issue for lefties! It also matters for those of us who read for hours at a time (can you say "core target market"?). It's great to be able to switch hands to reduce RSI problems.

Xenophon

Dear Xenophon:

Yes, I am one of those people who reads with the right hand while using the left to advance pages. So, I agree with you. It is just better to have a choice of how you want to hold the eBook Reader and advance pages. It is one of those reasons why I do like the EZ Reader as I thought they gotthis particularly right.

Realize, please, that the Hanlin devices we call EZ Reader, in total numbers sold, is a pittance compared to the rest of the world. Russia, for example, buys 10,000 of the Hanlin every month. While Jinke, Hanlin manufacturer, listens to us and considers our suggestions... Astak is a small voice right now in what is designed. Overall design is largely a Jinke item. We can suggest and they do listen... but until our numbers increase in sales... we will remain that one voice of North Americans stressing what we want to see and not demanding.We are not 1% of their monthly sales volume.

To be sure, Jinke does a good job with design and runs both an Apha test and a Beta to review comments. When our numbers become sizable we can have special North American models made. Right now we cannot yet.

Robert B

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by theDwarf

I know what you mean. Real Estate Appraiser here.

I think there are a growing number of professionals looking for hand-held devices they can use in the field for both reference and the taking of notes so that they can do away with clipboards with paper in them. Maybe it is oe device with all the features or a combination of an e-Ink screen above for displaying documents with a more traditional (smaller & cheaper?) screen below for taking notes that will handle notes. I could see uses for both, but being able to make drawings in the field in the rain would be great

Dear theDwarf:

Yes, what we are seeing is the medical profession in particular wanting to use eBook Readers. Funding for digitizing medical records IS in the Stimulus Bill. This was also brought up again by President Obama in his speach last night that this is a priority and a first step.

Robert B

[cobalt8]

Robertb,

Are there any updates or changes to the last release timeline that you provided?

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Yes, what we are seeing is the medical profession in particular wanting to use eBook Readers. Funding for digitizing medical records IS in the Stimulus Bill. This was also brought up again by President Obama in his speach last night that this is a priority and a first step.

But I doubt the current devices have the adequate security hardening and encryption that I will take to get this adopted. The medical profession is quicly moving to tablet PCs... I doubt they will go to an eInk device any time soon. Not with the performance drawbacks and resolution of the current eInk devices.

BOb

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by cobalt8

It looks like Frys went back up to the $299.00 price from the $269.00 introductory price.

Dear Cobalt:

Yes, FRY's tries to be fair to all vendors. Last week it was our EZ Reader and this week it is Sony. They, of course, do not advise us of when they will put up sales. From all I know, you will see the EZ Reader Bundle Pack up again on some type of sale within weeks. It could be tomorrow or it could be a few weeks.

On the other hand, even at $299 it is a bargain. The bundle pack does give you some decent upgrades that no other eBook Reader Manufacturer is doing... in particular 200 free books and the 2GB SD card and more.

Robert B

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by cobalt8

Robertb,

Are there any updates or changes to the last release timeline that you provided?

Dear Cobalt:

I have not heard much lately on the release dates. This is not rare. Manufacturers now are extremely secretive on everything from features to release dates as otherwise they feel they are not free to maneuver. Basically, there will always be the addition or subtraction of features in the last weeks to get the price to where it is palatable.

I will try to get an update up within the next ten days.

Robert B

[Robertb]

The attachment shows a prototype of the "old" Hanlin V9 by Jinke.... an updated version of which will be the EZ Reader True.

The picture utilizes a shot of the Sony 505 just to show size comparisons.

We know that the V9 pictured had to be held up, as a screen that large would crack too easily. Doing a little surmizing, the new version will still appear pretty close to this shot although the V9t will be touchscreen and may not have all these controls. We do know it will also be revamped to add the Epson Controller, Touchscreen, Wi-Fi or 3G, SCRATCH (write directly on the screen), Flexi screen, and note-taking.

Jinke's own study of Text-To-Speech (like Amazon V2) is that it is not at all perfected and sounds boring with no inflection. IF it can be improved it may appear on the new version. Right now it is considered a gimmick that does not work.

Please remember I am surmizing only... but it is food for thought.

Robert B

[arioste]

Hello
I'm a great reader and a journalist here in Paris, Fr.
Could you tell me where I could find some figures, analysis, description etc about the e Book market ?
Your products seems to be very interesting (forgive my english) I certainly will buy one when it come to Fr.

If you can answer by mail here is my adress : durieuxj@wanadoo.fr

Thanks in advance

JD

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by arioste

Hello
I'm a great reader and a journalist here in Paris, Fr.
Could you tell me where I could find some figures, analysis, description etc about the e Book market ?
Your products seems to be very interesting (forgive my english) I certainly will buy one when it come to Fr.

If you can answer by mail here is my adress : durieuxj@wanadoo.fr

Thanks in advance

JD

Dear JD:

I did send to your email address but I am attaching what I found to this so all can take a look.