Plastic Logic unveils executive e-book reader
Swish but pricey
CES 2010 We first encountered UK-based Plastic Logic when it demo'd its prototype e-book reader at CES 2009 - you can watch a video demo here. Now the company has launched the product.
Dubbed the Que, it's being pitched as the executive's e-book reader, thanks to a big, clear, "shatterproof" display. At 10.7in, it's bigger than the one in the Samsung E101. The whole Que measures 275 x 212.5 x 7.5mm.
Plastic Logic's Que: impressive but expensive
The screen uses E Ink technology, but is made using PL's own "plastic electronics" printing-style production process.
The Que supports ePub, PDF, Office documents and more, and you can copy files from over from Windows machines, Macs and even BlackBerry smartphones, Plastic Logic said. It has 4GB of Flash storage, though PL will also offer a more capacious, 8GB model too. Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity are part of the package too, though the latter is limited to the 8GB version.
In the flesh
In the States, PL has partnered with Barnes & Noble for books and many of the better known serious newspaper and magazines for periodical content: Wall Street Journal, Barron's and Forbes, for example, and you can expect content of that kind when Que crosses the Pond.
Thin
There's no word yet on UK availability or pricing but, as a guide, the 4GB model will cost $649 (£406) and the 8GB version $799 (£500) when it ships in the US. ®
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COMMENTS
Exactly
A lot of other e-book manufacturers have their own book "portal" where they make their profits by selling books to the people who purchased the hardware. Sony, Cooler and can we forget Amazon, all have sites to buy "their" books. Do PL have this? Do they intend to have this with books, newspapers, mags etc? I hope so but if so, how can they expect to get that price for their Que?
Nice but *very* expensive
Oh dear, another UK company pitches a limited function product at *much* higher cost than its basic functionality permits because of the super duper tech involved.
Yes Plastic Logic has sunk a lot of cash in getting its tech working and wants a ROI ASAP.
But *you* are *not* Apple. You have virtually *no* public profile, certainly not as a supplier of cool, must-have gadets at silly prices. This level of pricing Vs functionality is *not* justifiiable.
Especially as IIRC the *whole* point of this technology is to radically *lower* the manufacturing cost of new hardware (not quite disposable but a hell of a lot cheaper)
Unless the price/performance ratio improves *fairly* quickly this will join the list of clever, but over priced UK sourced kit (BBC Micro, ARM PC) which was neat in it's day but failed to recognise the development curve that such products need to start working down if they don't want to be also rans, that charged a price premium *long* after more pedestrian software caught up (and then bypassed) them.
The price of this Vs the Skiff enewspaper reader will be *very* interesting to watch. Note that both seem to be e-ink variants, the Special Sauce (c Lewis Page) of the Skiff is the substrate, *not* the basic eink materials.
Thumbs up to Plastic Logic for getting a product out the door. Thumbs down for its poor price-performance
@Number6
Not quite. The naming you gave is backwards, *from* Acorn to Advanced.
Acorn itself ended by being taken over by that powerhouse of Italian IT, Olivetti.
Mine's the one witht he back issue of PCW in the pockets.
@RotaCyclic
Yes I know that "Some consumer electronics manufacturers do sell their products at a loss, quite intentionally. However, they do tend to have other products, in particular software to make up the loss." But as I said there would be no point THIS COMPANY selling THIS PRODUCT at a LOSS.
Most people will download there ebook content for for nothing. So there is no point comparing this to Sony selling the PS3 at a loss and making money on software.
Erm
Are wa talking about you know ARM... the most widespread 32bit cpu in the world??? Yes might have failed as a PC but the architecture is probably the most widespread in the world. Nearly every mobile dovice uses one.
