The eBook Reader market exploded over the Christmas Season. eBook Readers at CES had their own pavilion and drew a huge amount of media! I think it is worthwhile to look at some statistics.
Total eBook Reader sales were $2.92 Million in 2009. They will double to $6 Million in 2010. By 2013, eBook Readers will generate $20 Million!! This is almost doubling growth every year.
Why? Features have come up and prices are dropping. The Astak Pocket PRO is now at $199 cost to the public at: www.theEZreader.com. This is for a full-featured beauty in 6 colors with 20 formats and Text-To-Speech!! It has a scroll wheel, can hold a whopping 8,000 eBooks and your music, and it weighs under 6 ounces! You can fit it in a jacket pocket!!
What effect are items like the Pocket PRO having on the public? Those who only scoffed before are seeing they must have one. They are light, fast, hold an entire library, and even read to you!! From an environmental standpoint... people are realizing that they make total sense.
Now, the latest is that prices may approach a sweet spot of $150 in the next five years (Yankee Group). Old roadblocks like cloudy touchscreens are giving way to clear-as-a-bell touchscreens.
Where does this leave Astak? It leaves Astak leading the way! Astak was the first eBook Device to break the $200 barrier and is leading the charge toward more features at a lower price. People like the fact that Astak has 20 formats on their devices. People like being free to buy from 400 websites. People like buying "free" eBooks for free (do not laugh, many competitors charge for free eBooks).
It leaves Astak with so many new devices coming. In the hopper is an MID (7 inch Mobile Internet Device). In the hopper is a clear touchscreen with Wi-Fi. 9 inch devices are coming soon. 3G devices are a few months from now. And... all the time Astak is leading the charge to lower costs and far more value. Are you aware that Astak devices come WITH a crush-resistant leather case with magnetic clasp INCLUDED? And now Astak is going to have a website where you can purchase eBooks, Newspapers, Periodicals, Lyrics to Songs, and get free eBooks for free!
Friday, January 22, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
9 days at CES
You will read from other writers about the four days of CES. That is the official days when the show is open. I am here to describe to you what happens before the show opens and during the event.
Think of CES as a small city onto itself. There are about 3,0oo exhibits and some are almost a city block long. Others are as small as a 10 by 10 foot booth. Some have 2000 TV screens showing waterfalls and plabes flying overhead. Others are lucky to have a few brochures.
You do not so much enjoy a CES as survive it. The first five days before the show opens are horrible. All the aisles are filled to overflowing with boxes, giant crates, carpets, furniture, cables and debris. To work your way to your booth you must first negotiate The Maze. All the aisles are blocked in some way or another. Many aisles are impossible to pass through... you have to go back and explore other ways. If it takes 5 minutes to get to your booth space during the show, it takes an hour to get there before it opens. For me, I started on Sunday to try to find my booth space and the show opened Thursday.
Every booth is not concerned for safety or ease of passage. Their only concern is blocking the aisles to build their booth. Where during the show you can walk through huge booths... you find them roped off and no passage before the show. Aisles can lead to a total dead end before the show. Skilled mountain climbers might find the hodgepodge of piled crates and cables and rubbish too much to attempt. Many of the exhibits are 2-3 stories high so seeing over them is largely impossible. Only a keen sense of direction can save you from The Maze.
I twisted my left knee on Monday. There is no quitting at CES. You work no matter what malady befalls you. All the time you know you have four days of standing at booth duty to put up with at the end. You find yourself constantly putting restroom breaks off until the last second. Often there is no place to eat open before the show. You try to find your booth space, your booth sleleton, and your furnishings... plus 40 boxes of brochures, TV's, signs, placards, samples, and much more.
Someone wondered why I did not post on our new introductions during the show. There is no time. During the days before the show you concentrate on getting badges for booth builders and finding your materials, you pick up people at the airport in the early night, and you answer enmails and phone calls all night. During the show there are at least ten people at any time expecting you to answer their questions, media interviews, film crews, and people trying to sell everything from leather cases to new Text-To-Speech. You do not enjoy lunch... you eat just to sustain energy. You drink water when and if available. You eat dinner with your fellow employees and hope to get 6 hours of sleep. Everyone seems cross with you, demands your complete attention, and has no respect for formality. People walk into the booth demanding homage much of the time... and homage to what they are trying to sell to you. You DO treasure those that you pleased and regret those who left angry. You are trying to learn about new introductions and relay them to attendees while on the fly. Often you have no training on a new device... you may no very little more than its size and shape.
It is a true nightmare and yet a joy. You love the accomplishments and despise your failures. You soldier through everything and try to smile through it all.
Think of CES as a small city onto itself. There are about 3,0oo exhibits and some are almost a city block long. Others are as small as a 10 by 10 foot booth. Some have 2000 TV screens showing waterfalls and plabes flying overhead. Others are lucky to have a few brochures.
You do not so much enjoy a CES as survive it. The first five days before the show opens are horrible. All the aisles are filled to overflowing with boxes, giant crates, carpets, furniture, cables and debris. To work your way to your booth you must first negotiate The Maze. All the aisles are blocked in some way or another. Many aisles are impossible to pass through... you have to go back and explore other ways. If it takes 5 minutes to get to your booth space during the show, it takes an hour to get there before it opens. For me, I started on Sunday to try to find my booth space and the show opened Thursday.
Every booth is not concerned for safety or ease of passage. Their only concern is blocking the aisles to build their booth. Where during the show you can walk through huge booths... you find them roped off and no passage before the show. Aisles can lead to a total dead end before the show. Skilled mountain climbers might find the hodgepodge of piled crates and cables and rubbish too much to attempt. Many of the exhibits are 2-3 stories high so seeing over them is largely impossible. Only a keen sense of direction can save you from The Maze.
I twisted my left knee on Monday. There is no quitting at CES. You work no matter what malady befalls you. All the time you know you have four days of standing at booth duty to put up with at the end. You find yourself constantly putting restroom breaks off until the last second. Often there is no place to eat open before the show. You try to find your booth space, your booth sleleton, and your furnishings... plus 40 boxes of brochures, TV's, signs, placards, samples, and much more.
Someone wondered why I did not post on our new introductions during the show. There is no time. During the days before the show you concentrate on getting badges for booth builders and finding your materials, you pick up people at the airport in the early night, and you answer enmails and phone calls all night. During the show there are at least ten people at any time expecting you to answer their questions, media interviews, film crews, and people trying to sell everything from leather cases to new Text-To-Speech. You do not enjoy lunch... you eat just to sustain energy. You drink water when and if available. You eat dinner with your fellow employees and hope to get 6 hours of sleep. Everyone seems cross with you, demands your complete attention, and has no respect for formality. People walk into the booth demanding homage much of the time... and homage to what they are trying to sell to you. You DO treasure those that you pleased and regret those who left angry. You are trying to learn about new introductions and relay them to attendees while on the fly. Often you have no training on a new device... you may no very little more than its size and shape.
It is a true nightmare and yet a joy. You love the accomplishments and despise your failures. You soldier through everything and try to smile through it all.
Monday, December 28, 2009
CES starts in 10 days
CES, the Consumer Electronics Show, starts in Las Vegas on January 7 and ends on Jnaury 10. Since CES is like a small CITY you cannot imagine the extra time and effort to plan, prepare, set up, and tear down. Moving 20 people to Las Vegas for 6 days is quite a bit of logistics. Cramming ten people into a 2-bedroom house for CES is little short of a miracle.
Anyway, CES is THE premier event in Consumer Electronics. Last year it was largely Astak pleading to get a simple sub-category (rejected) for eBook Readers. We were over-run with attendees. This year CES has seen the light and has an entire eBook Pavilion!
As every Consumer Electronics company plans all year to debut products at CES... Astak is planning major new introductions there. Expect some major news from Astak!! We have two factories that build our eBook Readers and they both will be unveiling new models for us to sell. Such models are rumored to be featuring: Wi-Fi, 3G, and TouchScreen in seperate models. Our partner, Books On Board will be there handing out special CES coupons that will save end users a ton on eBooks. There is incredible news already that I cannot even hint about!
So... while this blog may be quiet for a while in early January... expect it to bust loose right after CES ends.
Anyway, CES is THE premier event in Consumer Electronics. Last year it was largely Astak pleading to get a simple sub-category (rejected) for eBook Readers. We were over-run with attendees. This year CES has seen the light and has an entire eBook Pavilion!
As every Consumer Electronics company plans all year to debut products at CES... Astak is planning major new introductions there. Expect some major news from Astak!! We have two factories that build our eBook Readers and they both will be unveiling new models for us to sell. Such models are rumored to be featuring: Wi-Fi, 3G, and TouchScreen in seperate models. Our partner, Books On Board will be there handing out special CES coupons that will save end users a ton on eBooks. There is incredible news already that I cannot even hint about!
So... while this blog may be quiet for a while in early January... expect it to bust loose right after CES ends.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Trying to get eReader on Pocket PRO
Dear All:
Right now we do display non-DRM Fictionwise eReader eBooks on all three of our Astak models: EZ Reader Basic, Pocket PRO, Mentor Lite. We have been actively working with Fictionwise for about a year to get a Linux SDK (which our models need) and they say it is almost ready!
We are still trying to get a decent contract. Fictionwise was purchased by Barnes and Noble and they are one immense bureaucracy. Their idea of a simple contract is 40 pages of legaleeze.
Right now they want "exclusivity" (from how we interpret the contract). That would mean our devices can ONLY have their format and none other. We cannot do that and are asking them to strike that paragraph.
I realize ALL are weary of this entire negotiation. Just please be aware that we keep trying, and a breakthrough could happen quickly. We still want eReader. But we cannot do anything without the Linux SDK (so we can port it into the device) and a fair and decent contract.
Right now we do display non-DRM Fictionwise eReader eBooks on all three of our Astak models: EZ Reader Basic, Pocket PRO, Mentor Lite. We have been actively working with Fictionwise for about a year to get a Linux SDK (which our models need) and they say it is almost ready!
We are still trying to get a decent contract. Fictionwise was purchased by Barnes and Noble and they are one immense bureaucracy. Their idea of a simple contract is 40 pages of legaleeze.
Right now they want "exclusivity" (from how we interpret the contract). That would mean our devices can ONLY have their format and none other. We cannot do that and are asking them to strike that paragraph.
I realize ALL are weary of this entire negotiation. Just please be aware that we keep trying, and a breakthrough could happen quickly. We still want eReader. But we cannot do anything without the Linux SDK (so we can port it into the device) and a fair and decent contract.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
A Christmas Carol Gift Pack
Official full press release on Gift Basket!!
Jacob Marley’s spirit says “Astak Helps the HUNGRY While Making Gift-Giving EZ” 2009 is “The Year of The Ebook”. Astak is offering the 5-inch EZ Reader Pocket PRO special edition: “A Christmas Carol Gift Pack” on www.astak.com/charity! In addition, they are donating $15 from every Gift Pack sold to Second Harvest Food Bank to buy food at the most critical time of year for those less fortunate! Astak received so many requests to make the Pocket PRO easy to gift. At the same time, we were planning to raise funds for Second Harvest Food Bank. We pulled everything together in the spirit of giving and came up with quite a great way to help others. San Jose, California (PRWEB) November 24, 2009 -- Astak announced that this holiday season, the company is offering the 5-inch Pocket PRO special edition “A Christmas Carol” Gift Basket on www.astak.com/charity. Astak will donate $15 of the proceeds from each gift basket to the Second Harvest Food Bank. Consumers have the opportunity to give something to help those less fortunate while also giving a basket of joy that will help the receiving person “Keep Christmas in Their Hearts All Year Round”! Astak 5-inch EZ Reader Pocket PRO Gift PackThe Pocket PRO is lighter (under 6 ounces), faster (Epson controller with 400MHz processor), more convenient (5 inch), and more full-featured (20 formats, user-replaceable rechargeable battery, Text-To-Speech, leather case, memory expansion to hold 8,000 eBooks and MP3 music) eBook Reader and packaged it in a keepsake basket with: Mighty Bright eBook Reader light, 2GB card pre-loaded with 230 Holiday Classics (everything from the immortal “A Christmas Carol, thru 150 Christmas stories for the entire family, to old time holiday recipes). Astak added a full TIN of Starbucks Mints, a three-pack of Starbucks VIA coffee, a coupon for 50% rewards dollars on the first ten eBooks purchased from Books On Board (our partner), all the holiday wrappings and packaging, and a personalized Holiday Card that holds the buyer’s 50 word personal message! What a way to give something that will be treasured all year by the recipient!! But, Astak has remembered the real message of A Christmas Carol. They are donating $15 from every Gift Pack sold to Second Harvest Food Bank to buy food at the most critical time of year for those less fortunate!! Jacob Marley’s spirit said: “Kindness, mercy, benevolence… THAT was my business” There has never been a more dire time for feeding those in need!! Astak welcomes other eBook Reader manufacturers to please join us!! Astak hope to contribute $4,500!! Robert Barry, Astak’s Director of Business Development said: “Astak received so many requests to make the Pocket PRO easy to gift and include eBooks and a light and much more. At the same time, we were planning to raise funds for Second Harvest Food Bank. We talked with our partners (Books On Board and Mighty Bright) and they had some great ideas too. Then the local Starbucks Coffee wanted to help. Our staff pulled everything together in the spirit of giving and came up with quite a great way to help others.” This special and festive gift pack will end December 11 (to allow time to ship). Everyone can do good for those less fortunate and “Keep Christmas in your Heart all Year Around” by visiting www.astak.com/charity and purchasing “A Christmas Carol Pack” for $239.
Jacob Marley’s spirit says “Astak Helps the HUNGRY While Making Gift-Giving EZ” 2009 is “The Year of The Ebook”. Astak is offering the 5-inch EZ Reader Pocket PRO special edition: “A Christmas Carol Gift Pack” on www.astak.com/charity! In addition, they are donating $15 from every Gift Pack sold to Second Harvest Food Bank to buy food at the most critical time of year for those less fortunate! Astak received so many requests to make the Pocket PRO easy to gift. At the same time, we were planning to raise funds for Second Harvest Food Bank. We pulled everything together in the spirit of giving and came up with quite a great way to help others. San Jose, California (PRWEB) November 24, 2009 -- Astak announced that this holiday season, the company is offering the 5-inch Pocket PRO special edition “A Christmas Carol” Gift Basket on www.astak.com/charity. Astak will donate $15 of the proceeds from each gift basket to the Second Harvest Food Bank. Consumers have the opportunity to give something to help those less fortunate while also giving a basket of joy that will help the receiving person “Keep Christmas in Their Hearts All Year Round”! Astak 5-inch EZ Reader Pocket PRO Gift PackThe Pocket PRO is lighter (under 6 ounces), faster (Epson controller with 400MHz processor), more convenient (5 inch), and more full-featured (20 formats, user-replaceable rechargeable battery, Text-To-Speech, leather case, memory expansion to hold 8,000 eBooks and MP3 music) eBook Reader and packaged it in a keepsake basket with: Mighty Bright eBook Reader light, 2GB card pre-loaded with 230 Holiday Classics (everything from the immortal “A Christmas Carol, thru 150 Christmas stories for the entire family, to old time holiday recipes). Astak added a full TIN of Starbucks Mints, a three-pack of Starbucks VIA coffee, a coupon for 50% rewards dollars on the first ten eBooks purchased from Books On Board (our partner), all the holiday wrappings and packaging, and a personalized Holiday Card that holds the buyer’s 50 word personal message! What a way to give something that will be treasured all year by the recipient!! But, Astak has remembered the real message of A Christmas Carol. They are donating $15 from every Gift Pack sold to Second Harvest Food Bank to buy food at the most critical time of year for those less fortunate!! Jacob Marley’s spirit said: “Kindness, mercy, benevolence… THAT was my business” There has never been a more dire time for feeding those in need!! Astak welcomes other eBook Reader manufacturers to please join us!! Astak hope to contribute $4,500!! Robert Barry, Astak’s Director of Business Development said: “Astak received so many requests to make the Pocket PRO easy to gift and include eBooks and a light and much more. At the same time, we were planning to raise funds for Second Harvest Food Bank. We talked with our partners (Books On Board and Mighty Bright) and they had some great ideas too. Then the local Starbucks Coffee wanted to help. Our staff pulled everything together in the spirit of giving and came up with quite a great way to help others.” This special and festive gift pack will end December 11 (to allow time to ship). Everyone can do good for those less fortunate and “Keep Christmas in your Heart all Year Around” by visiting www.astak.com/charity and purchasing “A Christmas Carol Pack” for $239.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
The Consumer Electronics Show is January 7-10
The annual Consumer Electronics Show will take place in Las Vegas from January 7-10!! About 500,000 attendees and press and media people will all swarm to there like bees to honey!
Why is this important to the end-user?
Here is why> every major eBook Reader manufacturer will be there. There is a special "eBook Pavilion" which Robertb asked for last year and CES agreed this year! My prodding, pressing, and providing names and emails to CES made this happen and I am really proud of that. I feel this pavilion symbalizes what we all now think: the "Year of the eBook" has finally come!!
Exhibitors start working towards this show in July!! That is how big this is. It takes a good six months of painstaking work to get ready. There is booth design, space selection changes, finding audio and video and pretty models. There is also the obvious and largest consideration: transporting displays and 20-40 people to Las Vegas and housing and feeding them so they can man the booth.
Yet... every major newspaper and magazine and TV station and retail store will have representatives there. Present models can be triied out and all new and planned models for the next year will at least be seen in prototype.
CES is really WHY you hear very little about new models form July thru December each year!! Everyone is planning the grand introduction at CES.
So... what will Astak be showing? I cannot tell you. Yes, we will have some major new models with incredible features. Some of the rumored products are really amazing and earth-shaking. BUT, you will have to either attend the show or count on reviewers to let you know. I will be posting here and on MobileRead Forum when I get back after the show.
So, this is why news is limited right now by everyone. They are waiting! The excitement is growing and everybody knows that CES will shake the entire eBook World!!
Why is this important to the end-user?
Here is why> every major eBook Reader manufacturer will be there. There is a special "eBook Pavilion" which Robertb asked for last year and CES agreed this year! My prodding, pressing, and providing names and emails to CES made this happen and I am really proud of that. I feel this pavilion symbalizes what we all now think: the "Year of the eBook" has finally come!!
Exhibitors start working towards this show in July!! That is how big this is. It takes a good six months of painstaking work to get ready. There is booth design, space selection changes, finding audio and video and pretty models. There is also the obvious and largest consideration: transporting displays and 20-40 people to Las Vegas and housing and feeding them so they can man the booth.
Yet... every major newspaper and magazine and TV station and retail store will have representatives there. Present models can be triied out and all new and planned models for the next year will at least be seen in prototype.
CES is really WHY you hear very little about new models form July thru December each year!! Everyone is planning the grand introduction at CES.
So... what will Astak be showing? I cannot tell you. Yes, we will have some major new models with incredible features. Some of the rumored products are really amazing and earth-shaking. BUT, you will have to either attend the show or count on reviewers to let you know. I will be posting here and on MobileRead Forum when I get back after the show.
So, this is why news is limited right now by everyone. They are waiting! The excitement is growing and everybody knows that CES will shake the entire eBook World!!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
WHO CARES about User-Replaceable Batteries?
Well, you should and I do.
You will note that both of our lines (EZReader and Mentor) have a battery door. There is one sturdy little screw that opens with a standard phillips screwdriver. You can purchase replacement batteries atour website: www.theEZreader.com.
Almost all the major eBook Reader sellers have gone to sealed-in batteries.
"So what?", you might say!
First of all, batteries do not last forever. Maybe you do 200 recharges in a year. That battery might be ready to go out. It depends on how long it sat discharged and weather and temperature and other factors... but Diamonds may be forever and batteries aren't!
With a sealed -in battery you first hunt down the maker of the device and try to contact customer service. You then pay $80 or so to them to replace the battery. But wait, what about freight? Add that in. Then you sit for 4-6 weeks waiting to get the device back. Getting the idea now?
With the Astak line... you can already be up and running for about $16 or so.
Also, what about the concept of a "spare battery"? With Astak you can buy a spare, charge it, and pop in the spare on a long trip! It weighs next to nothing and takes up little room. So, instead of the "8,000 pages to a single charge"... you now have 16,000 pages capability.
Frankly, I would never buy a device that is sealed in! That, to me, is a form of lunacy.
Most reviewers never seem to get this. They comment on font sizes available and Text-To-Speech quality instead... all items that are readily improved by firmware upgrades... free and taking maybe 2 minutes. In the last month or so, Astak has offered firmware upgrades to improve: battery charge, Search Function, Bookmarking, Font Size selection, more languages supported, amd more. Dictionary Support and a visual clock are the next upgrade and already in the works. We listen and we react.
Unfortunately, you cannot change a sealed in battery with a firmware upgrade.
You will note that both of our lines (EZReader and Mentor) have a battery door. There is one sturdy little screw that opens with a standard phillips screwdriver. You can purchase replacement batteries atour website: www.theEZreader.com.
Almost all the major eBook Reader sellers have gone to sealed-in batteries.
"So what?", you might say!
First of all, batteries do not last forever. Maybe you do 200 recharges in a year. That battery might be ready to go out. It depends on how long it sat discharged and weather and temperature and other factors... but Diamonds may be forever and batteries aren't!
With a sealed -in battery you first hunt down the maker of the device and try to contact customer service. You then pay $80 or so to them to replace the battery. But wait, what about freight? Add that in. Then you sit for 4-6 weeks waiting to get the device back. Getting the idea now?
With the Astak line... you can already be up and running for about $16 or so.
Also, what about the concept of a "spare battery"? With Astak you can buy a spare, charge it, and pop in the spare on a long trip! It weighs next to nothing and takes up little room. So, instead of the "8,000 pages to a single charge"... you now have 16,000 pages capability.
Frankly, I would never buy a device that is sealed in! That, to me, is a form of lunacy.
Most reviewers never seem to get this. They comment on font sizes available and Text-To-Speech quality instead... all items that are readily improved by firmware upgrades... free and taking maybe 2 minutes. In the last month or so, Astak has offered firmware upgrades to improve: battery charge, Search Function, Bookmarking, Font Size selection, more languages supported, amd more. Dictionary Support and a visual clock are the next upgrade and already in the works. We listen and we react.
Unfortunately, you cannot change a sealed in battery with a firmware upgrade.
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