In news that hardly made a ripple when it broke, Plastic Logic canceled its stylish Que e-reader, a move that seemed almost anticlimactic given the state of the market.
Long promised, Que was a high-end, large-screen e-book device that seemed well suited to magazine and newspaper formats. And although it was expensive (starting at $649), Plastic Logic thought the beauty and utility of the product would make it fly. Then along came the iPad.
I wouldn't want to be competing against the Apple juggernaut either, especially when continuing product delays moved the release of this product back month after month. But the summer has been brutal to many other projects intended to compete in the e-book space.
Amazon more or less sealed the fate of the Asus 8-inch e-reader, which the company says will cost "under $599," by dropping the price of the Wi-Fi version of the new Kindle 3 to an attractive $139.
I can't imagine that Amazon is making any money off the Wi-Fi Kindle at that price, but if the intent is to seize even more market share, it's surely a winner. California-based Foxit had a $199 e-reader in the works but shut down the hardware project to focus on software.
Who will compete at the low end? The $150 Kobo reader hawked by Borders now looks under-featured and overpriced, while Spring Design's $400 Alex e-reader is cut off at the knees.
Barnes & Noble is making a push to promote its Nook e-reader in special displays in its stores, while Sony has announced it isn't going to try to keep pace with Amazon's pricing, intending to focus instead on quality and design. The big players, in other words, are still standing, but what little time was available to innovate at the low-end seems to be diminishing.
How Kindle competes
And Kindle 3, which will be shipped at the end of this month, competes on significantly more than price. The device uses the same high-contrast screen technology that was incorporated in the recent DX 2. The new screens offer 50 percent better contrast than the Kindle 2.
Other factors make Kindle 3 a potent force. At 8.5 ounces, the device is easy to manage with one hand and doubles Kindle 2's storage space. Add to this battery life of up to a month with wireless turned off and an improved PDF reader and the only thing missing is 3G, which you can get with the $189 model, and a color screen. The cheaper Wi-Fi model is functionally identical except for the lack of 3G wireless.
The e-reader market is differentiating itself from the tablet market, where e-books can be read on a range of software using a multifunctional device. The two will continue their separate development because they fill different needs.
Amazon's next move
I suspect reading books won't be the driver for the purchase of most iPads, while few buyers of the Kindle and Nook will miss the multimedia options available on tablets. A number of companies are about to bring out new tablets, Samsung and HP among them, but Amazon is playing it right by insisting on a dedicated reading device that makes no compromises.
Or is it? Now we get reports that Amazon is hiring people to work on building electronic gadgets to complement itse-reader line, devices that would be expressly designed to display Amazon content. That could include music and movies, and there is even some buzz that Amazon may contemplate bringing out a smart phone. What treacherous times these are. Amazon finds itself weathering the iPad storm but must now reaffirm a basic direction. Focus is everything.
Sony is evidently planning an "Internet TV" device for the fall, and Apple seems to be gearing up a new Web TV offering. Amazon would be foolish to play that game.
