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Freescale's Cheap Chip Could Mean Sub-$99 E-Readers
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."
I seriously doubt it's the processor that's causing the Kindle to be so high priced. It's most likely the costs of using the e-ink screens.
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
2008 $99 laptop
2009 $99 netbook
2010 $99 ereader
Yes, the ereader will run Linux.
In soviet russia the government regulates the companies.
According to isuppli's teardown of the kindle the E Ink display is $60. The main processor (made by Freescale) is ~$8. The EPD chip, which is what becomes redundant adds only $4.31 to the BOM. The main point is you cannot expect E Ink based readers to get any cheaper any time soon. Any price cuts will only come about due to increased competition from different technologies like Pixel Qi's, or by sacrificing things like onboard wireless (which adds ~$40 to the cost of the Kindle).
Legally obligatory sig : My opinions are my own... etc etc
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
...it's got a lot of "wow" factor, but just wait for the price on the technology to drop before you buy one- eventually, the e-ink tech is going to become as ubiquitous as the flash drive. Amazon did a good job of creating a great device, but eventually there are going to be so many clones out there that locking yourself into Amazon's platform (essentilly, Amazon was copying iTunes model) at such an early start might hit your pocketbook kinda hard... Just wait for cheap-ass readers, and then the publishing industry to set up their own store(s).
This is going to be an interesting battleground, especially in the education text-book market.
How about someone just creates an e-ink display and no processor that can be hooked up to net/note book.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
I agree that a lower price point is desirable but I'm still planning to wait until the page refresh process on these things is more acceptable. There is an annoying delay for every page turn, and most of the ereaders I've played with (at least 20 different models at CES this year) have a really annoying black screen in between page turns while the e-ink particles rearrange themselves. The delay and rearranging isn't so bad if you are just reading one book at a time always from start to finish, but it becomes really frustrating if you are skipping around or browsing through various documents and you want to navigate from one document to another like you might do while web browsing or working with legal briefs, etc. I would love to see e-ink technology improve to the point that one can use these things for browsing large quantities of documents -- this would be an incredible tool for researchers and educators. I'd be willing to pay current $250+ prices for one of these that was usable for such tasks, but at the moment we're still a couple years away from that.
The main reason I don't buy an eReader is a cost vs functionality. Most of the books I read, can be obtained in pdf format. So buying a computer with ability to read pdf format is more cost effective. Now if the functionality were to be increased so that I could take a pdf document and bookmark pages, scribble notes on it and such I would be happier with an eReader. There are some versions of eReaders which have this functionality, but in some cases I've heard you can lose this information. Maybe they should be thinking about eBooks being a lot cheaper or how about transitional marketing. Something where if you buy the hard copy you can obtain the electronic copy for free. Then I could better determine whether it's right for me. But then we are back to the entry level cost and the difference in cost between an eBook vs paper. Some of the books I have seen are advertised as $47 for paper and $44 for the electronic copy. So where do I come out ahead, yeah if most of my reading was fiction then it would be okay, but 90% of my reading is technical.
For pleasure-reading, I completely agree.
But I want to go to classes with my e-reader and some paper, instead of my body weight in textbooks (which I may or may not need that day). I don't care about "enhanced content" (who actually uses the CD that comes with hardcover textbooks?) .. just give me a note-taking application, a good calculator and possibly access to my email.
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.
The only real justification for a dedicated e-reader device is that it can be locked to a company's book service. If the device is "open", it'll contain many more functions (free or very minimal cost) and look more like a laptop or iPad.
Right now you can download text versions of thousands of books - and Notepad is all you need to read them. If I'm going to have a special device just for reading books it's going to have to be a lot more functional and a lot less expensive than anything they're even speculating about now.
Those corporate types that think that $400 is a good price for an e-reader and books should cost $25 each are setting the stage for their extinction. That kind of pricing will create a "pirate" market for digital books; this and the low sales rate (due to the pricing) will kill their market in short order./P
It is interesting to see that the CPU supports both LCD and eInk at the same time. I've just bought a BeBook and the eInk is just perfect for reading. The eInk display is however absolutely worthless as an interface device. After buying a my Hero (android) phone, the BeBook is left at home most of the time. For my workplace I would be very interested in using an eInk display for PDF. But navigating and searching is such a PITA on the current readers that I can not recommend it to anyone. On my reader I get irritated by the navigating experience even when going from one book to another.
Idea: maybe they should mate androids and iPhones with eInk displays, e.g. using bluetooth. You could make a really cheap one while using the wireless LAN / mobile internet / multi-touch screen etc of the phone for all the stuff that the current eBooks are missing. For now I'll just use my droid, even though I will get a headache from all that eye-strain.
Plus, they're great for reading in bed. Anyone who's tried to read lying on their side knows how much of an *enormous* pain in the ass regular paper books are. It's just not doable. But an ereader is perfectly comfortable.
Obviously not many electronic engineers around slashdot... The main point of the chip is that the eink display driving is direct, this will save about $5. if you don't believe me you can get the cpu that does the same for $8 and the display chip for $6.50....
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.
It's still lighter than most books. It also lets me make the font bigger, so I can read without wearing eyeglasses. Bookmarks are less of a hassle as well, and table of contents is actually navigable.
I mostly read at home, but I still find my PRS-505 to be more convenient than paper books.