Why doesn't the Iliad play to it's strengths?

[pdam]

Personally I am perplexed at the current Development roadmap for the Iliad.

Given the Sony device is now on the market with lots of content and loads of marketting spend behind it ... and given that, other than the obvious size difference and the ability to write notes (but hey a notebook costs $2!), the current Iliad software implementation doesn't do much more than the Sony - why aren't iRex concentrating on the features that will differenciate and show a value difference - like annotation, bookmarking, website interaction / form filling through the use of the Wacom pen etc?

It seems odd that these differentiators are not the focus of development (to me at least).

[tribble]

Dont forget the size of the companies. You are comparing a hardware giant to an upstart. Sony can push bad products with even better marketing, if they want to. They have resources they can distribute in every sector. iRex is a tiny company compared to sony.

Thats one reason why they are not so fast on the market.
And since we do not know, what their actual B2B focus is, we do not know, what priorities their B2B customers have. Maybe they dont need bookmarking.

I myself would want sooo many more features:
- bookmarks, annotations, highlighting
- have mutliple books open and notes at the same time
- handwriting recognition on the iLiad
- suspend mode between pageturns
- create references between files.
etc.

Lets hope they get a few B2B partners that desperately need those features aswell.

[ultim8fury]

Surely long battery life must be a priority for any company, otherwise you may as well just buy a tablet PC and do all the other listed things as well.

To my mind the whole purpose of e-ink is to increase the battery life if it's not then why bother ?

bookmarking - key feature as far as I'm concerned on any device of this nature. I read a few months back that the iRex was shipping with Pooleys flight guide. That's a book that screaming out for bookmarking. If you're a pilot of a small aircraft you're going to be flying between many airports it's good to have them bookmarked in advance.

Handwriting recognition - on a device that touts a wacom screen, this should have been in place before launch. What is the point of the screen if you can't write on it.

[scotty1024]

Originally Posted by pdam

Personally I am perplexed at the current Development roadmap for the Iliad.

Given the Sony device is now on the market with lots of content and loads of marketting spend behind it ... and given that, other than the obvious size difference and the ability to write notes (but hey a notebook costs $2!), the current Iliad software implementation doesn't do much more than the Sony - why aren't iRex concentrating on the features that will differenciate and show a value difference - like annotation, bookmarking, website interaction / form filling through the use of the Wacom pen etc?

It seems odd that these differentiators are not the focus of development (to me at least).

I think iRex recently made this all crystal clear.

Battery life of 10 hours? More than good enough for a business user where the unit only has to last one work shift and then be recharged over night.

Add more features to xpdf/minimo? Why? Business users need specific unique features for their specialized vertical markets that have to be developed one-off for them: eFlybook being a perfect example.

iDS development? Only if one of their business users needs it, which I'm sure eFlybook gets their new charts distributed via (while we sit around with empty download directories.)

I'm also not so certain how much larger Sony's San Diego Operation is compared to iRex, iRex just bragged of getting their second round of financing. And I guarantee its easier to get loans and manufacturing contract float when Philips is your Daddy rather than a couple guys in a garage i.e. they can play the plucky startup "under dog" but this under dog eats from a gold dish.

Sony has lots of titles? Far fewer than Gemstar had. Probably less than Amazon had before their purge of all titles not Mobi. Loads of marketing spend, I haven't seen any ads, no buses, no internet ads on CNN etc... In fact their whole campaign seems a bit on the cheap side. They even had so much confidence in the product that they sold all the units they would commit to make until Oct 17th on the first day. A first day of ordering where it seemed like everyone was uh pre-ordering right?

It remains to be seen if the percentage of frustrated customers come Christmas is higher for the PS3 or the Sony Reader.

And I can tell you that right now Sony is about to take the same amount of time to ship my Sony Reader to me as it took to get my iLiad out of iRex!

Is iRex playing to their strengths? Yes.
Did we all volunteer to buy non-consumer units, give them tons of feedback with no promise of them even listening to us? Yes.
Has iRex allowed us to let them lose focus? No.

The only thing I blame iRex for is for claiming they grok'd OSS.

Are they about to learn all about it? Oh Yes!!!

[pdam]

Don't get me wrong - I'm not knocking iRex, nor am I actually particulaly frustrarated the device is doing what I want right now. In terms of marketing - Sony are spending - look at the Borders tie-up ... The point was really, given the price differencial and given the small current feature differencial, even B2B customers will find it hard to see the extra value, B2B customers will play with potential - they'll invest in the working product ...

eFlybook doesn't count - this is such a simple product, unless they port the added apps over (but not much there really) ... it really doesn't add much, it's just a small, non interesting customer, not a great example of B2B use. (Sorry this sounds so negative, but I don't see this as a particulaly exciting example).

I really want the device to succeed, and I do agree it is great that they remain focused on their busienss plan if they believe in it - it's the reaction to competition (and Sony IS competition, irrispective of it's current consumer focus) I'm questioning.

The gold dish thing? hmm? they are in round 2 of VC, given a B2B model - they are still very light on sales personnel ...

Interesting that Sony are dribbling supply - these things are still seen as niche market items only I guess.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by scotty1024

Sony has lots of titles? Far fewer than Gemstar had.

About how many did Gemstar have? I didn't watch it very long, but I don't remember them having anything I cared to read at the time. I'm not being snotty, by the way, just curious.

[scotty1024]

Originally Posted by pdam

eFlybook doesn't count - this is such a simple product, unless they port the added apps over (but not much there really) ... it really doesn't add much, it's just a small, non interesting customer, not a great example of B2B use.

The point that it seems so "simple" is what made it such an excellent customer for iRex. Pilots need to be able to read electronic charts in an environment pretty much identical to that of the paper version. iRex provided exactly that.

This boring customer has a high end clientele that can afford to pay the premium for the device so they don't have to carry paper.

Their next wins will likely be things such as "Meter readers" carrying around iLiad's and scribbling in gas meters, water meters, electric meters boring boring boring but there are a lot of those boring meters to be read every single month. Good money for iRex if they can crack the market.

[scotty1024]

Originally Posted by NatCh

About how many did Gemstar have? I didn't watch it very long, but I don't remember them having anything I cared to read at the time. I'm not being snotty, by the way, just curious.

Exactly, it doesn't matter if they have 10,000 100,000 or a million books if you don't want to read any of them.

In the end I recall Gemstar had over 70,000 titles available. Their sci-fi list was considerably better stocked than Sony's is at present. And interestingly, some of the same titles "Banned By Earth Command" but I recall Gemstar having that title priced such that I didn't quite feel so like I needed my money back after reading it.

[ali]

Originally Posted by scotty1024

Their next wins will likely be things such as "Meter readers" carrying around iLiad's and scribbling in gas meters, water meters, electric meters boring boring boring but there are a lot of those boring meters to be read every single month. Good money for iRex if they can crack the market.

I've been thinking similar, however... there needs to be a backlight of some sort. The eInk stops being wonderful at all when you're in a dark basement. Such applications need a readable screen both outdoors and indoors. Same with navigation systems - great outside during the day, but in the night?

[NatCh]

grumble grumble You can't backlight something that's opaque, what it needs is a frontlight approach, like a LightWedge.

[scotty1024]

Exactly, I wish people could at least get the technology correct. :

They finally get a display that is paper-like.

They finally get a display technology where you don't need to haul a car battery around with you, well unless you bought an iLiad that is.

And the first complaint from some is: where's the frickin' laser powered back light I can use in my dungeon to read "training manuals"?

Next generation, when the new super duper efficient frickin' organic white LED's are available for side lighting the display? Then you'll get your built in light source.

[pdam]

Getting back to the eFlyBoook - yes it is simple - this is where the Sony comes in - what can iRex do in this simple scenario that the Sony Reader couldn't ... at a cheaper cost (or more margin depending how you sell the service). The notes is currently just that in this product - I don't se this as the killer difference ...
Meter Readers - well they already can use a PDA - a blackberry with a J2ME app for instance or a wireless iPaq - both smaller lighter better connected (and sadly currently with longer battery life!)

I recently had a mobile car kit fitted - the guy who fitted it took my signature and entered details through a wireless iPaq - a book reader wouldn't have been any advantage to him ...

[Mambo]

My wife asked me when I will let her to read books on the iLiad, since I don't usually put it out of my hands. (not in the near future).
I offered her to buy a Sony Reader, that is much cheaper.
She said that she doesn't want a smaller screen.
I argued that it is only a bit smaller (6 vs 8 inch).
She confirmed again that the iLiad is just of the right size and she would not like to use anything else that is smaller or bigger, it is just the most comfortable size.

Unfortunately I can't afford to buy an other one yet.

All in all I think IRex did a superior design with screen size, resolution, 16 grades of gray, tablet pen, and if people don't recognize the superiorness I can just feel sorry for them.

It costs only twice as much as the Sony, but offers much more. I especially could not leave without the possibility of taking notes, reading A4 PDFs (ok landscape), reading appropriately powerpoint presentations (again landscape). I don't think it is expensive neither - now as I live in Hungary I have to work much harder for it in order to afford - I wonder why people in US or UK think it is expensive.

So there are strengths on the iLiad's side, but of course it will take time for the people to realize the benefits.

[ali]

Originally Posted by NatCh

grumble grumble You can't backlight something that's opaque, what it needs is a frontlight approach, like a LightWedge.

Woa. I'm still not used to this "pointing out every inaccuracy" style. I have the feeling that most people would say some light inside the "display", that is, below the surface, qualifies as backlight. Even Wikipedia seems to be unsure, as lighting from the side appears in both Wikipedia:Backlight and Wikipedia:Frontlight.

Alas, going back to the actual point: The Iliad works good in daylight and not at all in the dark; while other devices (say, with a TFT and {back|front|side|godly}light) work good in the dark and okay in bright sunlight.

So B2B applications must be some where you never have to use the device in the dark, because otherwise other approaches are more suitable.

I can't really think about such an application. Maps/Navigation seems a good candidate, for usages during the day: Aircrafts (hobby pilots only, though), bikers, possibly als hikers. I'd love to see a movable map so I can use my Iliad on a bike tour.

It's pretty easy to just say everybody asking for a backlight didn't understand e-paper. The problem is that there are no B2B partners out there who want to use e-paper and seek an application for it. Usually, they have an application and look for the best device/solution for it. And if they all won't {invest in|buy} anything that's got no "backlight" and "hoop loosy", then that's what you have to come up with to make your business a success, even if "backlight" is the wrong term and "hoop loosy" doesn't exist.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by ali

Woa. I'm still not used to this "pointing out every inaccuracy" style. I have the feeling that most people would say some light inside the "display", that is, below the surface, qualifies as backlight. Even Wikipedia seems to be unsure, as lighting from the side appears in both Wikipedia:Backlight and Wikipedia:Frontlight.

<snip>

It's pretty easy to just say everybody asking for a backlight didn't understand e-paper. The problem is that there are no B2B partners out there who want to use e-paper and seek an application for it. Usually, they have an application and look for the best device/solution for it. And if they all won't {invest in|buy} anything that's got no "backlight" and "hoop loosy", then that's what you have to come up with to make your business a success, even if "backlight" is the wrong term and "hoop loosy" doesn't exist.

Hey, ali, sorry 'bout that. I find I'm developing a bit of a peeve about the backlight thing, but I'm trying to have a sense of humor about it, and about myself. That's why I added the smilie, to indicate that it wasn't meant harshly.

I don't have the slightest quibble with your main point, agree with you on it, in fact.

My thing with the lighting is not so much folks wanting it lit, I'd like it lit too. It is exactly as you pointed out: an issue with the terminology. Wikipedia notwithstanding, I think of backlighting as lighting that's, well, in the back. And something like a lightwedge as being frontlighting, 'cause it's in the front.

I think I'm concerned that using the term backlighting might be misleading to folks who don't know how e-ink works, 'cause they haven't been following the discussion for months like you and I, and the rest of the gang have.

I also could just be rationalizing my own petty peeve.

Anyway, I meant no offense, and I'm sorry that I gave it, however unintentionally.