Brief: PVI (eInk) develops plastic screen, for Spring 2010

E-Ink plastic screen coming.  Financial Time's Peter Marsh in London reports today that Prime View International (PVI), who bought eInk, plans to launch a lightweight plastic screen in Spring 2010, available to all its customers, and it's thought that there's a likelihood Amazon could be involved already.
  This will be 9.7-inches so would be useable in a new Kindle DX and most important for the educational market due to the higher probability of dropping a unit in that environment.  It would be more competitive with the coming Plastic Logic 'Que' also.

PVI "refused to disclose" whether or not they're working with a specific partner on a new version of the system.  A 9.7" screen based on plastic would likely "...weigh about 330g, about a third less than the 500g or so of a product based on a glass screen."
  If that link doesn't present the full story, here's an alternate one. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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B&N 'color' Plastic Logic e-reader report was wrong

Jenn  iPhoned a much-distributed and tweeted video-interview with an alleged Barnes and Noble spokesguy who went on and on about how B&N's e-reader (in partnership with Plastic Logic) would be out in the Spring and "Ours will be in color" -- so, a posting to this effect went up on Mashable "on the big news" and was carried by Engadget, FastCompany, WIRED, et al, as reported by Jenn.   (Click on image to see the video.)

  I didn't run (or walk) with it because nothing in the guy's report matched what Plastic Logic has been saying the past half year and why would a Barnes and Noble salesman sitting at an exhibit be suddenly informally announcing a Plastic Logic color E-reader for the spring?
  (There'd be no way for Jenn to know this though.)

MobilitySite, which had also reported the interview and the color news, reports today that Plastic Logic has denied the report.

' "The video report is inaccurate and the individual (who was apparently filmed while attending a trade show was not an authorized Barnes & Noble spokesperson) was misinformed.

  We are excited to have Barnes & Noble powering the Plastic Logic e-commerce store.  While colour is on Plastic Logic’s roadmap, it is not on the map for the Spring of 2010. &n bsp;Plastic Logic has said for quite some time it is working on colour, but not for a product in the coming year." '

  Well, I doubt that he just attended the tradeshow and put on a B&N shirt and lanyard and readied himself for interviews (while around actual B&N staff) for the sport of it.  More likely, he was a temp staffer helping with B&N's exhibit, misinterpreted what he was hearing from employee conversations, and then eagerly passed that on when interviewed.
 People get overexcited by the word "color" when it comes to e-readers.

 He didn't, as speculated, probably make it up as a video-worthy answer to her question of what made the B&N reader better than its competitor(s), as they kiddingly refer to the Kindle);  he actually mentioned earlier in the video, w/o being asked, that it would be in color.

  As for why B&N didn't instead choose to quietly retract it or just say instead that "it may be not be ready by Spring 'exactly' -- what?  It's not going to be ready in the coming year.  They've been very clear about that.

Any color we see will be of the LCD variety, unless Pixel QI is involved.  E-ink color just is not ready.

  I recently got a 10" Netbook that I will be writing about.  I love it, and one thing it's shown me is why any Tablet device may not do that well after all, if as high-priced as reported and marketed in a big way for reading of entire e-books along with web browsing, though the latter would be a fun use of it using home or office WiFi.

  But trying to read an actual book on a 10" LCD color screen is not going to be one of the world's big pleasures.  Surfing the net?  That's another matter entirely and doesn't demand linear concentration of the eyes on only words for a good length of time.

  One thing about e-reader news today - wishful thinking drives a lot of it.  But there's an energy in gadget excitement that I definitely understand too well. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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B & N and Plastic Logic 2010 - The Focus - Update

UPDATED 7/23/09 for a very interesting additional Plastic Logic quote, from May 28, placed at the bottom of the Plastic Logic section and to correct a couple of dates from '2009' to '2010' (thanks to Batman) - Original Post was made 7/22/09 at 2:17 AM.

Wall St. Journal reports that Barnes & Noble is partnering with Plastic Logic to power its bookstore when Plastic Logic releases its E-Reader "in early 2010," a date given in the VIDEO interview with Fox Business News by Plastic Logic's Vice President of Business Development, Daren Benzi.

  Commenters to the news site quote some of his responses:

" Our goal is to focus on the business professional. ...optimized for content for the business professional: newspapers, magazines, periodicals...we're targeting a different kind of a customer... the business professional..."

In a New York times piece, Brad Stone astutely points out that this

" typically suggests a higher price and the need to lure more affluent customers."

Reactions of website commenters (some of whom have been eagerly awaiting the Plastic Logic model) to yesterday's interview which once again had a Plastic Logic executive bringing an inactive model to a televised broadcast:

' It wasn't even a working model, just a mock up. It "displayed" a single, static page. No demonstration of the touchscreen, the refresh rate, or the supposed flexibility at all. '

  That was strange.  Here's another reaction which addressed the announcement that was well in advance of the release:

" A lot of people have a lot of hopes pinned to this device, and it doesn't even have a firm release date or price.  'Early 2010' could mean it might not be released for another 9 months. I'm supposed to start buying books from Barnes & Noble now and not plan to read them until next spring? "

However, two months ago, in May, there was a demo of the working model at that point, and the external appearance is the same, a heavily commented on, somewhat aging PC color, for the frame which has no buttons because everything is done via the touch screen and a virtual keyboard.  Here is the video for that by Gizmodo.  Gizmodo comments on the functioning that they saw in the demo.  Here's the larger video without Gizmodo comments.

The NY Times's Brad Stone adds

" The Mountain View, Calif., company declined to disclose any more information about the pricing, or whether it will charge consumers monthly for that wireless connectivity.  Amazon.com’s Kindle accesses content through Sprint Nextel’s wireless network, although users are not charged for the service and many probably do not even know their Kindle uses Sprint to download books and access the Web. "

At this point, please read details in the earlier reports here on statements by Plastic Logic executives when making presentations in late June, May, and mid April.  I'm summarizing here (but the details in earlier articles are better):

[ Daren Benzi ] - "Compared with a computer, one of the advantages of the device is that readers can focus entirely on consuming content, they will not be disturbed by emails, for example."

[Sarah Geata] - "It will have WiFi, USB connection and a Bluetooth. We support PDF, ePub and MS Office. We are targeting [the] business traveler, you can annotate documents on it... When plugged in, the device can upload email to it... [WiFi] will be built in. Kindle set the standard making it transparent."

[When asked if there would be a web browser, Geata's response was]
"Not right now. It's about not being interrupted.
  It's a reading device. There won't be email on this or a web browser ..."

In yesterday's video, it was mentioned that the content would be for the business professional - magazines, newspapers - whereas Amazon targets those whose main interests are books.

In a Fox Business News interview earlier (details in earlier stories), an executive said that wireless would be used to upload and download documents needed for work and that most books would be business oriented ones.

This all jibes with PC Magazine's opening statement in its article today by Mark Hachman:

" Plastic Logic said Wednesday [sic] that its upcoming e-reader device will connect to the AT&T 3G network for content updates when the device debuts next year. "

They intend to use the wireless and wifi capabilities for uploading and downloading documents needed for business.  Brad Stone describes the plans this way:

" 'Over time you can see a lot of potential to be connected back to your office or to your home base,' said Richard Archuleta, chief executive of Plastic Logic.  'Having that ability to get documents, books or trade journals over Wi-Fi or the 3G network is critical, especially for mobile business professionals.' "

---

UPDATE 7/23/09 - Added quotes from Plastic Logic - Original posting 7/22/09
From Christie Silk of Editors WebLog dated May 28, 2009, more information about publishers with whom Plastic Logic had already made arrangements and another interesting quote:

' Richard Archulet, the company's chief executive, emphasised that his company's project aimed to satisfy the demands of a different user base to the mainly leisure orientated market already dominated by Amazon:

"Everything is designed for the business user, and business users require a lot of different types of content. It's really not about books at all." '

And from an earlier report which cited an even earlier report

' Benzi explained that although the first device will not access the internet, consumers might well be able to click on an advertisement for additional information on products or offers . . .

Plastic Logic will be able to "track the information about what the customer is doing with the device," a system which would seem to offer benefits to both newspapers and advertisers. '

---

MY THOUGHTS ON THE ABOVE:
So, I am not at all confident that non-business-oriented customers should bank on the Plastic Logic unit if looking for the ideal consumer e-reader.  I don't even think the price will be attractive.  But the file formats that the Plastic Logic will handle are a very attractive draw and include the Microsoft Office suite, full PDF support, and ePub format, etc.   Since Barnes and Noble plans to support ePub at some point (not right now), the Plastic Logic unit could read books from that store.  Looking at B&N's e-book store, fictionwise.com (recently purchased by them), average pricing is above Amazon's.

In mid June, Jeff Bezos announced to a Wired Magazine sponsored conference:

"In the future, Amazon.com’s Kindle e-book reader will display more book formats beyond its own."

And I'd say they'll obviously need to.


BARNES AND NOBLE
Now, to the B&N side of the news, The Wall St. Journal reports that they will launch an e-bookstore with bestsellers priced at $9.99 and will offer 700,000 titles.  500,000 of those will be public-domain books written before 1923.

  Business Day adds that B&N "would be the only provider of books on Plastic Logic’s electronic reader when it starts selling next year."

  Although book formats that B&N support include iPod, iTouch, Blackberry smartphones, and most Windows and Mac computers, the President of B&N, William Lynch said that titles bought through B&N's bookstore won't be compatible with Sony Readers or the Kindle

Also, while B&N will support Plastic Logic, its contract does not prevent it from selling its books for other e-readers, maybe even one made by B&N.

They don't say whether they'll actually sell the Plastic Logic and there is no pricing information available during this fairly large announcement, which seems timed to cause a slowdown for the Kindle but without displaying anything noteworthy with the Plastic Logic reader while changing the expected release date from "January 2009 2010" to "early 2009 2010," which could be as late as April 2010.

Of interest to me also is that Fictionwise, Barnes and Noble's e-store currently, has sold books in formats directly downloadable to and readable by the Kindle for some time.  feedbooks.com and manybooks.net also sell or give books that are fully readable by the Kindle and, directly to the Kindle.

  Many are unaware of that, thinking the Kindle can deal only with Amazon books.  Now, B&N's future super e-book store will not provide books in compatible formats for the Kindle or the Sony.  I thought that was a little odd, when Fictionwise has (MOBI/PRC format) for so long.

But Barnes and Noble's challenge will serve to keep Amazon on its toes; I personally love using the Kindle, but I really want Amazon to 1) update the firmware in the Kindle 2 so that it provides native PDF support with manual rotation and 2) to update the firmware in the Kindle DX to fully support PDF editing and study tools, sooner than later, with the school sessions coming up very soon. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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Bezos: Color version of Kindle is "multiple years" away

The story, by Physorg.com is here.  The statement was made at Amazon's annual shareholders meeting in Seattle.

In the meantime, Plastic Logic is demo'g its business model due out in 2010 and a flexible display version. Here's a video of the demo by Plastic Logic's CEO Richard Archuletta.  Here's another video demo at D7.

Engadget's Joshua Topolsky reports some "lust" for this large grayscale reader:

"... but we noted a fairly slow screen refresh (way slower than the Kindle), which is kind of a downer -- along with that fairly distant 2010 launch date..."

  Also, though it will have WiFi and built-in 3G data capability, a report May 10 on, in part, a talk by Plastic Logic's Sarah Geata, reminded us that Plastic Logic doesn't plan to have email or a web browser on this. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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Big Screen Kindle announcement Wednesday?

Well, that's what several papers are reporting.  This was more or less announced some months ago about Bezos' conversations with textbook companies and the goal of a larger unit for textbooks and periodicals coming out by Xmas. But the announcement in only April will likely involve more details already (and a possibly earlier release date?).  Maybe to get ahead of Plastic Logic's goal for early 2010?  And before all the newspapers fail?  Hearst has been putting heavy money behind E-Ink (see previous articles).

Huffington Post's Dave Burdick reports that the announcement is likely to be about the big-screen Kindle's "arrival at universities."

While mulling the more lucrative margins of textbook sales, he quotes the New York Times article today:

As early as this week, according to people briefed on the online retailer's plans, Amazon will introduce a larger version of its Kindle wireless device tailored for displaying newspapers, magazines and perhaps textbooks ...

In total, six universities are involved in the project, according to people briefed on the matter. They are Case Western, Pace University, Princeton University, Reed College, Darden School at the University of Virginia, and Arizona State University.

Some would hope it also entails some improvements on the Kindle 2 requested, but there's been no mention of that so far.

Also, pricing will be interesting.  Other big-screen units planned and some already available (iRex) but without wireless, search capabilities, and inline-dictionaries (all strengths of Amazon's Kindles) are charging from $600 to $1000+.  Will newspapers subsidize some of the cost for their readers, when they are already losing millions per year?

The announcement timing is intriguing seeing that Apple's June announcement had been getting the headlines in that their hoped-for MediaPad (no hard news on that yet) might be released via Verizon, with a wished-for larger screen and wider range of offerings but only via WiFi vs Amazon's always "On" wireless.

And then there is EFD or Electronic Fluid Display (Electrofluidic Display Technology, involving color) on the horizon but still very much in development including improving the contrast and then getting it integrated into actual devices.  But apparently it could support the Kindle someday.

UPDATE: OTHER RUMORS:
ENGADGET posted some info from the Wall Street Journal as well as the NYTimes and is offering preview photos, though they ask if it will be 9.7" units, so the photos may be iffy.  
The one on the right looks out of proportion, with the current unit 8" and the new one said to be 9.7"...
  SeekingAlpha reminds us that Engadget pointed out the NYTimes is lowering its subscription price from $14 to $10 (that would include Sundays and many have requested this before subscribing - so natural customer resistance has an effect).  They say in order for amazon to keep the price close, for the larger screen, they'd have to cut out something like wireless, but the college communities are filled with wi-fi spots, so wireless is superfluous there.  WiFi feature rather than 24/7 Wireless?  They add Amazon seems to be doing a front-run around the rumored iPod mediapad/tablet, with the spiffed up web browser and larger screen but still with a [smaller] keyboard.
  The Moderate Voice has an interesting set of thoughts. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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Plastic Logic and newspaper/magazine e-revenue

Plastic Logic's plans
This product isn't positioning itself to compete with the small Amazon Kindle for the home book market.  Where it might certainly challenge Amazon is in the student and technical areas, but with no wireless access.  From the article:

Plastic Logic is planning to release its, as yet un-named, reader in January 2010 ... the Plastic Logic product will have a considerably larger display [than the Kindle] and will be marketed towards the 'mobile business professional,' rather than the leisure reader, clarified Benzi. The screen will measure 10.7 inches diagonally (about 27cm) compared to Kindle's 6 inch/15cm display.
... Despite its larger size, the device will weigh about the same as the Kindle, as it will be made from plastic rather than glass and silicon. This also gives it the advantage of being more robust and durable, explained Benzi . . .The device is extremely easy to use, Benzi added, with an "intuitive touch screen" and just one button to power the display.

... Some modifications will still have to be made to put a newspaper on such a product, but Benzi explained that there are companies which can do that for them. It will also be much easier to transfer documents such as word or pdf files from a computer to the e-reader, via a USB port. Although the product is focused on the needs of a business person, that does not mean that books will not be available also: "I don't want to discount the fact that the business professional enjoys leisure reading," Benzi added.

... Content will be available through a shop, similar to Kindle's. The first product will be in grey scale but Benzi described the company's commitment to producing a colour device in the near future as a reason why papers with strong colour branding, such as the Financial Times and USA Today, are so keen to collaborate. Plastic Logic recently signed deals with these two publications

... Benzi explained that although the first device will not access the internet, consumers might well be able to click on an advertisement for additional information on products or offers:

Just what we want: one-sided information.
More invasively ... See the next paragraph

... Plastic Logic will be able to "track the information about what the customer is doing with the device," a system which would seem to offer benefits to both newspapers and advertisers.

... Pricing for the device or for subscriptions have not yet been finalised, but Benzi confirmed that prices would be competitive. He accepts that there are some savings when producing a digital product which should be passed on to the customer, and that will be taken into account when comparing the pricing with a print subscription.

... one of the advantages of the device is that readers can focus entirely on consuming content, they will not be disturbed by emails

I think people will be demanding email capability for prices PL will charge for the large-screen unit.

... It must expect some competition from Hearst, which just announced that it is to release a large-format wireless e-reader this year, "suited to the reading and advertising requirements of newspapers and magazines," according to Fortune. It seems that the newspapers are indeed enthusiastic, but are the customers?

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