Under $200 for the 5-inch E Ink reader and less than $350 for the 9.7-inch reader—that’s the latest pricing information from Astak. The 6-inch reader will be somewhere in between. Click on the image for a better view of the reader with the 9.7-inch display. It now seems that the biggest of the three models might not appear until October—I don’t know about the six-incher. See earlier post and a Techmeme roundup and another perspective from Mike Cane.
Ahead is a repro of a graphic with further details on all three products.
If they deliver on their promise (low price and in-store availability), I think a lot of people will finally be able to “Bring the E-Books Home” from Wal-Mart, Target, Costco.
This will be a real boost for e-book readers – both the people and the devices 🙂
Totally agree, Aaron, though I’m prepared for the usual heartbreak. We’ve been disappointed before. Right now I’m an optimist. Thanks. David.
David: This can’t be a heartbreak, this could really turn the tide for wider e-book adoption.
The price is right, but most importantly, getting it into regular retail chanels instead of something off on some website somewhere for double the price.
But you talked to the guy and saw the device first hand (right?), you don’t think they aren’t going to bring it to market do you?
Did you get any chance to play around with it? Snap a few pics?
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Just to make clear, Aaron, I wasn’t there–Bob Barry was the one at IDPF. I’m 90 percent convinced we’ll see the Astak in June. Rooting for this company to succeed! Next year the same gizmo could go for $75-$100, and then $55 in time, and as a guy with an interest in digital divide issues, I’m excited. Thanks. David
I’m right-handed (the way God intended) but even I can see there’s going to be a significant problem with those controls.
The important market is academic both college and 6-12. Anyone who thinks the 9.7 inch size is a problem has not carried a full load of textbooks in quite a while. Loading up a semesters worth of texts with the newest annotations or fixes will leave a lot of room in backpacks for students across the world. Not to mention costs of delivery and lost book replacements. Or not enough copies in the bookstore etc… And they are so easy on the eyes. This is a no brainer except again it scares publishers who like there other hard media counterparts in music and video can’t get ahead or even catch up with the pardigm.