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Asus Eee Reader: Asus to blow ebook market wide open?
Having kicked the laptop market in the peripherals with the launch of the Eee PC, single-handedly inventing the netbook market in the process, Asus is turning its attention to the ebook reader industry with the Eee Reader.
The Times reports that the Eee Reader is on its way to the UK and may involve hinged dual touchscreens, allowing readers to recreate the feeling of turning the page, like a real paper book. With extra features such as a Web browser, the second screen could be used to look up relevant references or make notes on what you're reading. The second screen could also be a touchscreen keyboard.
Hang on. Turn the picture sideways and you've got... a laptop. Has Asus figured out a way to sell us an even more under-specced computer? In fact, we first saw the concept of a dual-screen laptop at CeBIT earlier this year. If the full colour, Internet-accessing, double touchscreen concept is close to production then it could be a big shake-up for the industry.
There's no shortage of ebook readers in this country, with Sony launching the Reader Touch and Pocket editions just last month. But many have looked to the rumoured Christmas launch of the Amazon Kindle as the potential tipping point for electronic books in the UK. Perhaps we've been looking at the wrong end of the price spectrum: if Asus can deliver a product this well-featured at the price it's reportedly considering, ebooks could be the next big thing. Asus is looking to halve the price of existing readers, aiming to punt the Eee Reader for around £100. Now that's what we're talking about.
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ptbrb2121 8 September, 2009 18:48
If they can actually do this for a hundred quid, and the battery lasts more than ten minutes, then sign me up
anonymous 8 September, 2009 20:17
i doubt its going to be "£100". just think back to the time we were ecstatic about the first eee pc. what price did asus say it would cost? and then what price did they actually charge for it?
anonymous 8 September, 2009 20:35
I'm waiting out on these eReaders until one comes out that can fill the gap between £5 paper notepad and £800 tablet PC.
I like the idea of being able to 'print' documents to my eReader, make notes, organise and search notes properly (a la MS OneNote) and of course, download and buy books, both Fiction and for reference.
weetanhops 8 September, 2009 23:27
It's going to be really uncomfortable to use for a long time as an eBook, and I doubt it can hold out for as long, either.
For consuming online media content though, it seems like a good idea. They definitely won't get it to retail at £100, add at least £80 or so to that evaluation and you'll have something a little more realistic.
Nyadach 9 September, 2009 08:31
Looking at this thing, and how the pics of it are showing it browsing the inter wibble also, makes one think that this is nothing but a cut down EEE with normal, yet thin TFT panels. The issue then comes in that it uses a shedload of battery, and going again off the pics (all speculation though) that the stupid stand thing is its charger. So what we have is a sub £100 ebook that can't be used very portably and isn't very ergonomic due to its stupid folding.
Now, kill off half of it (these things don't need two screens), leave all the browsing stuff, add in some kind of note taking software, and get a seriously huge battery (possibly needing a switch back to e-ink for the screen, but the colour version would be nice) and it would be perfect. But it's still along way off that sadly much the shame. Nice attempt from Asus.