eBookwise 1150: Is There Room for a Third Device?

You've heard of Amazon's Kindle and Sony's Reader, but have you heard of eBookwise and their 1150?  I didn't think so, but don't worry.  Most people haven't, and if this Google Trends chart is any indication, very few people are even searching for it (eBookwise doesn't even register on Google Trends when compared to the Kindle and Sony's Reader).  Alexa comparisons show the same results; IOW, Amazon and Sony get all the buzz, leaving almost none for other players.

While many are criticizing the high price of the Amazon and Sony devices, eBookwise is going after the low-price sector.  eBookwise offers several different configurations and the cheapest one comes with 8 MB of internal memory and costs $109.95.  It uses traditional LCD technology (not the eInk you get with Amazon/Sony) and includes a backlight.  Unfortunately, backlit LCD screens make my eyes go crazy after working on my computer all day, so it's not a good option for me.

The bigger question is whether the ebook device market can support more than two players, particularly when the leaders have the marketing muscle of Amazon and Sony.  I would think the high price of the Kindle and Sony's Reader would leave room for a large audience on the low-end, but the website traffic trends seem to indicate a lack of interest.  It will be fun to keep an eye on all this as the e-book device market continues its evolution.

Comments

[Virginie Clayssen]

Hi Joe,
There are other eReaders : see them here :
http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/E-book_Reader_Matrix
In Europe, "Cybook"of Bookeen and" Iliad "are wellknown, and others in Asia.

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I guess the market should support many players, able to display many software readers for one ot two interoperable standard of e-Books file, as long as just about every title is available to all devices.

We enjoy the differences between mobile phones, — as long as they allow us to phone anybody anywhere.

It's fun to fight about the 'cool' features between individual devices, AND be able to share the standard common experience.

[wikimobile]

Another device could be you mobile phone with wikimobile on it (www.wikimobile.eu): with this software you can publish yourself on many mobile phones without a specific reader, and last but not least you can include multimedia features.