News - Sony quits the eReader device market

[HEXUS]

The company failed to find a big enough market for its line of eReader devices.

Read more.

[Tabbykatze]

Sony had an e-reader?

[cheesemp]

Sad to see another ereader go. Would be nice to see someone actually compete with Amazon/Kindle but can't see it happening. Anyone interested will already have a kindle so it would be very hard to break into the market and I can't see anyone with enough clout attempting it (except maybe apple but they'd rather sell you an ipad with an LCD screen for 4x the price )

[crossy]

Sad to see another ereader go. Would be nice to see someone actually compete with Amazon/Kindle but can't see it happening.

Kobo?

Problem with the Sony readers - as I see it - were that they were priced ridiculously and just didn't have the support that you get with Kindle and Nook. Does leave me wondering though what Amazon's reply would be if someone like Sony had said that they wanted to do an ereader that hooked into Amazon's ebook store. After all, it's not as if Amazon is losing out on the "consumable" sales...

[Percy1983]

We do have a Kobo in the house, didn't even know sony did e-readers.

[Saracen]

Sony had an e-reader?

Yup, and they're pretty good, too. It was touch and go for me between the Sony and Kindle, for my first. What swung it was mainly that the Sony was dearer, and I just couldn't see what I was getting that justified that. What didn't help was, having been burned by atrocious customer service in the past from Sony, I wasn't exactly motivated to give them preference over an alternative, and convincing offering.

But Sony never seemed to be exactly marketed in the EU, certainly not in the UK. They were available, but never seem to have been pushed. I suspect that, being pretty popular (surprise surprise) in Japan, they thought they could rest on that, and the 'Sony name' and not 'lower' themselves to actual compete with upstart Amazon.

Oops.

All that said, I'm sorry to see them pull out, at least of the non-Japan market. Sorry, but not surprised. The more competition there is, the more honest it'll keep the big players. Now, effectively, we can choose ... Kindle or Kobo. At least, until the next technical innovation comss along and blows things wide open. Again.

[Crowl]

But Sony never seemed to be exactly marketed in the EU, certainly not in the UK. They were available, but never seem to have been pushed.

They were pushed a bit at first in europe since their first ones predate stuff like kobo or nook and at the time the kindle hadn't even launched in the uk. My first ereader was one of theirs about 18 months before the first international kindles.

The main problem they had back then was that their bookstore only worked in the states and in the uk they were partnered up with waterstones or somebody like that with the net result of book prices and selection being poor and amazon having a far too easy time of it when they eventually launched over there.

[herulach]

Yup, and they're pretty good, too. It was touch and go for me between the Sony and Kindle, for my first. What swung it was mainly that the Sony was dearer, and I just couldn't see what I was getting that justified that. What didn't help was, having been burned by atrocious customer service in the past from Sony, I wasn't exactly motivated to give them preference over an alternative, and convincing offering.

But Sony never seemed to be exactly marketed in the EU, certainly not in the UK. They were available, but never seem to have been pushed. I suspect that, being pretty popular (surprise surprise) in Japan, they thought they could rest on that, and the 'Sony name' and not 'lower' themselves to actual compete with upstart Amazon.

Oops.

All that said, I'm sorry to see them pull out, at least of the non-Japan market. Sorry, but not surprised. The more competition there is, the more honest it'll keep the big players. Now, effectively, we can choose ... Kindle or Kobo. At least, until the next technical innovation comss along and blows things wide open. Again.

To be honest kobo isn't much competition except on price. The devices don't appear nearly as nice as either of the kindles I've had (mk1 keyboard and gen 2 paperwhite). At least the sonys were nice hardware.

I suspect at this point people are too tied in. In principle I'd get a non kindle device, but it would need to be great, otherwise I'd not be bothered to re-buy all my books.

[Spud1]

No great surprise - they did have some of the best hardware out there but they were always ridiculously expensive with a tiny library of books, and nasty proprietary software that reminded you of the early ATRAC3 madness with their first Mp3 minidisk players.

It's the right move though - e-readers are only a stopgap technology and they will vanish from the shelves in the next 5 years imo. The only reason I own one is that I would worry about leaving my £250 iPad on the beach whilst I go for a swim - but I couldn't care less about a £20 nook. As tablets get cheaper and cheaper, and the screens/battery life improve, I can't see a space for e-readers in the future.

Better to focus their efforts elsewhere and leave Amazon to it..

[wasabi]

e-readers are only a stopgap technology and they will vanish from the shelves in the next 5 years imo. The only reason I own one is that I would worry about leaving my £250 iPad on the beach whilst I go for a swim - but I couldn't care less about a £20 nook. As tablets get cheaper and cheaper, and the screens/battery life improve, I can't see a space for e-readers in the future.
.

As long as they have e-ink screens and regular tablets don't, they're a separate device to me. Reading outdoors is simply unpleasant without e-ink.

[Tabbykatze]

Yup, and they're pretty good, too. It was touch and go for me between the Sony and Kindle, for my first. What swung it was mainly that the Sony was dearer, and I just couldn't see what I was getting that justified that. What didn't help was, having been burned by atrocious customer service in the past from Sony, I wasn't exactly motivated to give them preference over an alternative, and convincing offering.

But Sony never seemed to be exactly marketed in the EU, certainly not in the UK. They were available, but never seem to have been pushed. I suspect that, being pretty popular (surprise surprise) in Japan, they thought they could rest on that, and the 'Sony name' and not 'lower' themselves to actual compete with upstart Amazon.

Oops.

All that said, I'm sorry to see them pull out, at least of the non-Japan market. Sorry, but not surprised. The more competition there is, the more honest it'll keep the big players. Now, effectively, we can choose ... Kindle or Kobo. At least, until the next technical innovation comss along and blows things wide open. Again.

Hmm, fair enough. Shame they're pulling out but this is very similar to their MP3 players and how little advertising there is for those. Their video and standard clip on music players have fantastic sound quality and clarity and extremely comparable to Apple equipment, which as much as I don't like their whole economic structure, which I would quite happily state is the best in my opinion. Sony are shaving more and more pieces of itself off it looks like, I wonder how long it will be till we're just left with the PS4?

[DanceswithUnix]

As long as they have e-ink screens and regular tablets don't, they're a separate device to me. Reading outdoors is simply unpleasant without e-ink.

Supposedly Pixel Qi solved that years ago, though I have yet to see one of their displays in action. They claim to have sold 3 million displays, which isn't many really. That's about a week's worth of output from Samsung isn't it? Super low power and readable in direct sunlight, if it works why are these things not everywhere? OK it sounds like one of these displays would give you weeks of battery rather than months that I get with the Nook, but I think I could live with that.

[wasabi]

Supposedly Pixel Qi solved that years ago, though I have yet to see one of their displays in action. They claim to have sold 3 million displays, which isn't many really. That's about a week's worth of output from Samsung isn't it? Super low power and readable in direct sunlight, if it works why are these things not everywhere? OK it sounds like one of these displays would give you weeks of battery rather than months that I get with the Nook, but I think I could live with that.

Yeah - I did consider getting a Pixel Qi screen for my netbook, but they were only available at crazy money from a US ebay seller.

[Saracen]

As long as they have e-ink screens and regular tablets don't, they're a separate device to me. Reading outdoors is simply unpleasant without e-ink.

Absolutely agree.

For me, for proper reading, it's e-reader or printed book. Currently.

If, repeat IF they come up with a high quality colour screen that has the non-transmissive aspects of e-ink, then maybe a tablet with that would make a decent e-reader. But until then, for me, an e-reader is close to essential and a tablet is a luxury convenience that I could do without. If I could only have one, it'd be the e-reader. And, even in monochrome, if Kindles could do a half-competent job of browsing the net, I probably wouldn't bother with a tablet.

[wasabi]

To be honest kobo isn't much competition except on price. The devices don't appear nearly as nice as either of the kindles I've had (mk1 keyboard and gen 2 paperwhite). At least the sonys were nice hardware.

I suspect at this point people are too tied in. In principle I'd get a non kindle device, but it would need to be great, otherwise I'd not be bothered to re-buy all my books.

I got a Kobo Aura HD mainly because I could physically try one in a WH Smiths before buying - I couldn't with the competition (Kindle Paperwhite) so non-starter. Secondary consideration is I can sideload epubs without having to faff about too much. Managing epub files with Calibre is a doddle although obviously not the official route. Converting between formats should be possible although Amazon DRM might be a pain - not tried. Kobo store via Rokutan isn't too bad - much better than it used to be at least.

Plus I can use it with my local library although range isn't stunning.

[peterb]

It's the right move though - e-readers are only a stopgap technology and they will vanish from the shelves in the next 5 years imo. The only reason I own one is that I would worry about leaving my £250 iPad on the beach whilst I go for a swim - but I couldn't care less about a £20 nook. As tablets get cheaper and cheaper, and the screens/battery life improve, I can't see a space for e-readers in the future.

Better to focus their efforts elsewhere and leave Amazon to it..

Well, maybe, when a tablet battery will last 30 days or more, like my Kindle. But as other have said, they are separate devices for different purposes. A Kindle is optimised for displaying static images, in normal light using e-ink. E-ink's response time is too slow for displaying video files, but thats not what its for. A tablet can display static images, but the battery life - dictated by the back light and to some extent, processor power, is a limiting factor when there is no mains power readily available.

As for the choice, it is as much about supporting infrastructure, and that is where the Amazon/Kindle combination does well. I can buy a book pretty much anywhere and get it delivered wirelessly (Cell or wi-fi) without any additional cost, and I can download my own documents over wifi, or via cell for a nominal charge. But it really is seamless.

That isn't to say that a similar service couldn't be provided with a tablet, but 3G tablets carry a premium in terms of cost, and require a personal Cellphone provider contract - with Kindle that is embedded.

Things may change in future as others try to compete, but Sony seem to have given up on that particular product range.