The txtr Beagle e-reader was going to change the way bundled devices were sold by existence bundled by aircraft carriers with smartphones. The plan was to sell subsidized e-readers to smartphone buyers and make up the difference on e- agree sales. But with the little device last going on sale to U.S. customers for an outrageous $70, that plan seems to prepare gone back to the drawing board.
It wasn’t supposed to be that expensive. The company promised a $13 price tag. Thomas Leliveld, school principal commercial officer, told us in November, “We firmly believe that the carrier channel is not actively promoting e-reading as a run as they do with music and video.” In addition to the added apprize of wooing customers with a bonus device when buying a smartphone, Leliveld said, carriers would get a cut of all the books sold. Carriers could have their take branded bookstore built upon the txtr bookstore. You could buy a book from the AT& angstrom unit;T bookstore for your AT&T/txtr beagle e-reader, even if carrier-branded storefronts haven’t fared well. Remember the Cingular music store?
But while txtr attempts to break into the domestic carrier market, it’s moving ahead with plans to release Beagle without a carrier deal, correspond to an email the company sent to The Digital Reader.
“We are fashioning a limited number of beagles available in north America,” the email reads. “We are making progress with operators as planned. However, collectible to pressure from readers, the decision was taken to offer it to a footling group of readers who want to buy it now. The price in the US will be $69, including a $10 voucher.”
That’s the equal price as a Kindle, which is better in each possible way, what with its Wi-Fi and that whole Amazon market behind it. The Beagle relies on an Android 4.0 smartphone with Bluetooth to add books to the device. The five-inch e-ink screen has 8-levels of gray scale and 800& propagation;600 resolution and runs on two AAA batteries. The Kindle on the other hand is rechargeable, handles 16-levels of grey and has 2GB of storage.
The txtr beagle is a pretty salutary $20 e-reader. It is a horrible $70 e-reader. Without subsidies to bring push down that price, this dog is doomed.
Materials taken from WIRED
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