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Freescale's Cheap Chip Could Mean Sub-$99 E-Readers

Posted by timothy on from the readership-growth dept.

eldavojohn writes "Last week, Freescale Semiconductor announced their i.MX508 chip and a few days ago released a rather bland and boring announcement that it's available. But there was at least one interesting line from that press release, 'The i.MX508 applications processor is expected to be priced at less than $10 (USD) in quantities greater than 250K units.' Yes, less than ten dollars. This sparked a wave of articles detailing how this new chip will allow the sub-$99 e-reader to emerge and according to market research, consumers are thirsty for something much more affordable than the Kindle."

4 of 158 comments (clear)

  1. Absolutely by Pojut · · Score: 5, Interesting

    consumers are thirsty for something much more affordable than the Kindle.

    I know I sure as hell am. The price of entry is the only thing that has stopped me from getting an eReader. I would love to not go over $100 for a good-quality eReader, but $150 would be my firm limit. I realize that e-ink screens are the primary thing driving the prices up for now, but hopefully with things like this new chip combined with new processes of putting together e-ink screens will bring the price down.

    Despite how much I complain about it around here, I would be willing to pay the same if not slightly higher for ebooks as I would for dead tree books if only the eReader itself wasn't so damn expensive.

    --
    Living With a Nerd
    1. Re:Absolutely by samuraiz · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I have more than $260 worth of shelving for my dead tree books, and I buy cheap shelves. There are infrastructure costs associated with any kind of book ownership.

  2. Cheaper than the Kindle, and OPEN. by RiffRafff · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Cheaper than the Kindle, and OPEN. Meet those two criteria and they'll sell by the boat-load.

    --
    "I might have made a tactical error in not going to a physician for 20 years." -- Warren Zevon
  3. Re:Why would I want one again? by Chad+Birch · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I like being able to hold (and turn the pages of) what would otherwise be an 800-page hardcover book in one hand while standing on the train, then slip it in my jacket pocket when I reach my stop.

    If you do all your reading at home where you don't need to carry your books around, there's not really much reason to have one.

    --
    Sturgeon was an optimist.