The $329 price attributed to DataVision for the Sony Reader—via Google’s Froogle service—is $21 below the usual $350. Is this for real? Maybe. Borders earlier had a 10-percent-off coupon on electronics that applied to the Sony at the time (Borders will still make good on unexpired coupons).
The actual ad on the DataVision site says “Our price is too low to advertise”—well, not unless you open up a shopping cart, with the $329 price. U.S. shipping is $9.43 and up.
This is fun. Sony wants to control everything, publicity included, but will a price war break out after the initial demand is satisfied? I myself wouldn’t pay a penny more than $225 for a Reader, considering its limited functionality. When the time comes—maybe sooner than we think, once strong enough E Ink rivals emerge—I’ll be watching eBay very carefully, assuming that the display has a sufficient contrast ratio between the text and the background. Perhaps I’ll find out, if the local CompUSA can get its act together.
Speaking of hardware: Dynamism now shipping Asus R2H (UMPC), via jkOnTheRun.
Yes, bashing Sony IS fun … but …
Amazon also has lots of items that you have to put in the shopping cart before you know what the price is. As I understand it, this is a strategy to prevent the ‘bots of competitors from being able to see your prices and underprice you.
So maybe Sony is our fave whippin’ boy right now, but it isn’t responsible for *every* evil in the world…
Hi, pond. No Sony bashing in this case, at least in regard to the shopping cart per se. Rather it’s the retailer requiring the shopping cart act.
As for Sony, it has its good side as well. I’ve said it before, and I’ll repeat, that Sony in the past has put out some wonderful products.
After decades, my late father’s Walkman radio still works great.
Thanks,
David