iRex poised to take B2B orders for iLiad e-book reader

We've had our eye on Philips (that's Royal Philips Electronics to you) spinoff iRex Technologies ever since we heard that the company was developing a Sony Reader-like e-book device with some pretty compelling features, but there's been no word on the so-called iLiad since it failed to ship last month as we were expecting. Well now iRex has finally updated its website with some new information about the 400MHz, multi-format reader, and the news is not so good if you're hoping to get your hands on one of these any time soon -- consumers will have to wait until at least September to order a model with "extended functionality" being designed for the general public. Businesses, on the other hand, can start placing their orders for the regular, "less-functional" models within the next month, with Europeans getting a shot at the e-ink-based 'books a month ahead of the rest of the world. We're hoping that along with the new features promised in the consumer version, iRex also manages to shave a few bucks off of the cost, as that $800+ pricetag we previously reported is pretty steep no matter how much you like to read.

[Thanks, Alex]

[Edwin de Kock @ Jul 20th 2006 12:29PM]

OLED has the potential of rendering obsolete all backlit screens that have to date been used for computers, cell phones, TVs, and so on. If blended with the newer e-book readers, OLED could leapfrog beyond the traditional paper publication in black and white, though it still has teething problems as well as patent restraints. Particularly worrisome is its use of organic materials, which deteriorate and therefore have a limited lifetime. Does this deterioration also apply to the e-ink of the Sony Reader, the Iliad, the Hanlins, etc.? Edwin.