In a world where the Kindle 3 is $189 and the Kindle WiFi is $139 you have to wonder whether higher priced eReaders have any chance. Now there’s news Asus has an 8″ eReader slated for an October release for the price of $599.
That’s not a mistake – It’s $599 for an 8″ TFT-LCD screen that has 64 shades of gray but isn’t as good as eInk for reading. It also doesn’t have a backlight. So it manages to take the worst qualities of LCDs (unsuitability for reading) and eInk (no color, no backlight) and combine them into one package. Just the sort of thing you’d expect people to pay $599 for.
The $599 Asus eReader - reactions to the price
We have Digitimes reporting on it -
Asustek Computer will launch an e-book reader with an 8-inch 64-grayscale TFT-LCD screen without backlight for own-brand sale at below US$599 in October 2010 …
… LCD panel of Asustek’s e-book reader is provided by Chimei Innolux (CMI), which makes it with a special process to improve reflection …
DigiTimes can’t resist pointing out that the $599 Asus eReader might not have much of a shot -
While the LCD panel offers fast response time, it is still no match for e-paper in terms of contrast ratio and reflective performance, Kuo added.
Kuo commented that Asustek is facing a difficult fight as it currently has no content support for its e-book reader and the price is much higher than the US$100-200 for current mainstream e-book readers.
CrunchGear is as surprised at the $599 price as any reasonable human being would be -
$600? For a grayscale e-reader? Nuts to that. Hopefully this isn’t Asus’s answer to the iPad or even the Kindle DX. Either that or something was lost in translation and the price is supposed to be more like $199.
When even the Press, who are usually eager to label any new eReader the Kindle-killer, don’t think you have a shot then you’ve really messed up.
Kindle vs Asus becomes a joke
When there were rumors of an eReader from Asus the Press had mentioned a 2010 release and a $150 price point (though to be fair that might have been for the smaller model).
We’ve looked at Kindle DX vs Asus 950 and Kindle vs Asus (color Asus 570) and this new Asus model sounds nothing like either of them. Given that it does support handwriting (one of the images shows a stylus and something scribbled) it seems this might be in the same family as the Asus 950. The Asus 570 had a color OLED display (which instantly makes you question whether it was an eReader or a mini-Tablet) and was supposed to arrive by the end of 2010. The Asus 950 had a 9″ touchscreen with handwriting recognition and built-in translation.
The main reason Asus got a lot of press for their Asus Reader was their claim that they would bring a $150 device to market. At that time both Kindle 2 and Nook were at $259.
The 8″ Asus Reader now being discussed is rather disappointing and its price is absolutely ridiculous.
$599 = 3 Kindle 3s. $599 = 4.3 Kindle WiFis. $599 = 1.58 Kindle DX 2s.
At what Price can 8″, 9″, and 10″ eReaders thrive?
The reactions to Asus’ $599 price and the complaints about the $379 Kindle DX 2 (even at $220 less than the Asus lots of people consider it expensive) highlight the problem large screen eReaders face.
Firstly, you are competing against 6″ eReaders which are priced between $139 (Kindle WiFi) and $199 (Nook for $199, Kindle 3 for $189). These smaller eReaders have hit economies of scale which larger eReaders haven’t and thus it becomes even more difficult to meet the expectations they set.
Secondly, you have the multi-purpose tablets that provide a ‘good enough’ reading experience and seem like much better value for money. When the $379 Kindle DX 2 has to fight a bitter value perception battle against the $499 iPad how is the $599 Asus Reader going to survive?
My feeling is that around $250 to $279 is not bad and once we hit $250 the larger screen eReaders will really take off. There are lots of things they are suited for - business documents, PDFs, newspapers, and such. It’s just that the larger screens and the larger eReaders haven’t hit economies of scale so it’s really difficult for a 9.7″ Kindle DX 2 or any larger screen eReader to hit prices like $250.
How long before we see $200 and $250 large screen eReaders?
It’s a tough question.
Asus is pricing its 8″ eReader at $599, Entourage has its dual screen eReader at $499, and Plastic Logic was thinking about $649 before it decided to re-think its strategy. Everyone except Amazon seems to be struggling mightily with large screen eReaders. B&N and Sony don’t even have a large screen eReader – though you’d think their experience and contacts would allow them to create a cheap large screen eReader if they were interested.
It leaves us with only 3 companies that have a good shot at creating a cheap, good large screen eReader – Amazon (Kindle), B&N (Nook), and Sony (Sony Reader). Of these, only Amazon has any experience of actually making one.
If Amazon can create a $139 Kindle WiFi why not create a $249 Kindle DX WiFi?
Amazon has managed to come down from $489 to $379. However, it would need something from B&N or Sony Reader to fire it up and motivate it to really cut costs.
Consider what happened with Kindle – We had the Kindle 2 at $279 until the Nook was released and in the 8 months since then we have seen the Kindle drop from $279 to the $189 price of the Kindle 3. We’ve also seen a $139 Kindle WiFi.
If no one challenges the Kindle DX it might be 2012 before we see a large screen eReader at $200. If, on the other hand, a Nook DX or a 9″ Sony Reader shows up this year then by mid to end 2011 we will have large screen eReaders at $200.
What is a large screen eReader worth? Is it needed?
What do you think?
- At what price point does a 9″ or 10″ eReader seem attractive to you? What price is good value for money?
- What is the ideal eReader size for you – 6″ or 9″ or something else?
- Do you think Asus has a chance at $599?
- Would you pay a premium for handwriting recognition?
- Would you keep and use both a 6″ and a 9″ eReader?
It’d be interesting to hear your thoughts.
The new Kindle 3 and Kindle WiFi have set such a high bar with respect to value for money that nearly every other eReader company is going to struggle mightily. You have to wonder whether Amazon is losing money on the Kindle 3 and if so how many other companies can compete.
Filed under: kindle dx 2 Tagged: | kindle vs asus, kindle vs asus ereader
1. er … dunno … maybe $299 or less, like the 32GB iPod Touch, more or less.
2. I have a 6 Kindle, so 6″. Big ones should be ideal for books with complex layouts such as textbooks or instruction manuals, poetry and classic theater in verse, newspapers, comics and magazines. It should also be in color for these last two to work, of course, so i think that until they are cheaper AND in color they won’t take off.
3. haha, no, no way, not a ghost of a shadow of a chance.
4. Like the 3G premium in the new K3, guess so, not more.
5. Yes, if i could read comics and Scientific American in the 9″ one.