Bookeen producing eInk reader for Baen Bar - IF they get 1k orders

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by phuata

Ah, all right. That's where I got confused. I thought they were three different products, so when you said that NAEB was using the previously discussed hardware, I thought we had a choice of three previous discussions you could be referring to.

So, does the NAEB choice have a user-replacable battery as described in the links in post 31 in this thread? How about the included 512MB SD card? And have there been any decisions on the software (is there the bookmark feature or jump to page feature described in the threads post 31 links to)?

I have tried to read all of the NAEB forum, and I see where discussions have been made. I just don't see final choices. And every time I try to visit Baen's Bar, I'm told the page can not be found.

We're essentially going with a Bookeen out-of-the-box at this point, except that it will have the range of ebook format support that we mention on our NAEB specifications page.

Look, part of the problem that we've discovered in this entire process is that it makes no difference what we would *like* to offer as part of a new, custom ebook reader design if we cannot get a decent price break from the OEM manufacturers for the hardware. And we cannot do that without ordering 25,000 or more units and paying for them up front, wait while they're assembled, and then implement the software onto them. Hunh?!?

Now would you be willing to pay $250-$280 for our most expansive version if you had to wait six months for us to ship? Didn't think so. And that's predicated upon us gathering the volume of orders to buy the 25,000 or more units. If we only get 1,000 orders, then the price per device becomes 25 times higher because we *STILL* have to order 25,000 units!

If you think this has been an exercise in frustration, I fully agree with you!

Derek Benner