Sony staying conservative with Reader device, aware of current tablet mania

Sony's Sir Howard Stringer played the tease at today's Reader content partnership presser, stating that while Sony could make the device into a multimedia tablet, it would rather wait and see if consumers warm up to current devices. Stringer's watching if people find the form factor "comfortable and helpful" before Sony starts "plowing on a thousand apps" or building a "Vaio Reader." We don't really know how much e-reader acceptance points to the demand for color multimedia tablets, but in regards to the (non-existant, ever-present) Apple Tablet, Stringer says "we're all working on variations of the same thing." Hopefully we'll figure out what exactly he means by that before we grow old and start reading books or something horrible like that.

[Anthop Posted Dec 17th 2009 6:41PM]

The Courier isn't a "multimedia tablet" :/. A fan rendering of the Apple tablet would probably be a more relevant picture :/.

[Templarian Posted Dec 17th 2009 10:33PM]

@Anthop It still has multimedia aspects to it. But yea, have to agree it is more of a book than tablet. A tablet by nature should have one screen.

With that said the Courier will probably dominate the "tablets" if they are all released around the same time.

[Anthop Posted Dec 18th 2009 3:04AM]

@(Unverified) Not saying that the Courier can't play media; in fact I really hope it has a good media capabilities if it ever comes out. I'm just saying that calling it a just a "multimedia tablet" would be missing the point :P.

[Roberini Posted Dec 17th 2009 7:03PM]

Every time Sony throws the name "Vaio" around, it scares me. Vaio is Sony's excuse for high prices.

[Yatesey Posted Dec 17th 2009 7:22PM]

@Roberini Errrrm, in recent years especially, Vaio prices are some of the best offers available, at least in the UK that is. The premiums that used to be don't really exist that much anymore!

I can't wait to see the courier though as it sounds great for graphic designers. I can see why Sony wants to play the waiting game.

[Amnak Posted Dec 17th 2009 7:26PM]

@Yatesey Im a graphic designer and this does excite me... it revolutionizes the field making design more like its roots.

[Boudou Posted Dec 17th 2009 7:30PM]

Well, if they abandon E-ink for dirt-common LCD this "Vaio" reader may actually be cheaper then most Reader device. The E-ink device is the single highest component in these Reader devices by far.

[Yatesey Posted Dec 17th 2009 7:53PM]

@Amnak I know and it's obvious that Nike is in on the game with the Courier so we know it will get the marketing it needs to go big!

[Amnak Posted Dec 17th 2009 7:24PM]

I like how Sony says there waiting on (non-existant, ever-present) Apple Tablet, and that "we're all working on variations of the same thing."

[noctas Posted Dec 17th 2009 7:51PM]

Looks like two Betamax tapes..........

[miloa Posted Dec 17th 2009 8:00PM]

The picture immediately reminded me of the great CLIE line that Sony killed. Lets hope this new device doesn't become one more item bolstering the viewpoint that Sony's motto should be "Making Gadgets That You'll Love and That We'll Abandon"

That's probably a bit harsh I know, but some people do indeed feel that way.

[fiver Posted Dec 18th 2009 7:47AM]

@miloa

Well, I'm one of those who felt that way, but to be fair, the PalmOS pretty much saw a decline soon after, so it was a decision that any business might have made.

I'm definitely looking forward to Sony's incarnation. They have one hell of a good aesthetics team for these things, even if the prices aren't always meant for most of us.

[Jeff Posted Dec 17th 2009 10:03PM]

I think that if anyone is going to get the tablet thing right, it will be Sony.

[Arkv2 Posted Dec 17th 2009 11:34PM]

Reading books on a LCD screen is an eye killer. Why are all this rumors of Apple and some bookstores if that "Slate" or whatever is called is supposed to have a plan TFT LCD display?
The eBook readers are meant to display books because they look great and don't cause eye-strain; I can't be happier with my Sony reader; Sony should focus on that right now, as well as an international ebook store release.

[DrCollossus Posted Dec 18th 2009 2:09AM]

As excited as I am about Courier, that's a separate discussion, but yeah it's not an eReader.

I personally think the eReader market is faced by one very large problem which will prevent it from achieving real success in the mass market, and that is that as great as it is to be able to take your collection of newly purchased e-books around with you on a single device, you can't take your existing collection of physical books with you. Would the iPod have been successful if you could only listen to iTunes purchases on it, and not your existing CD collection?

[mex Posted Dec 18th 2009 3:07AM]

if it's not e-ink it's not a reader!

[W31RD0 Posted Dec 18th 2009 2:46PM]

@mex

Exactly. I don't know why "tablets" and "readers" are becoming synonymous.

[displaysRus Posted Dec 18th 2009 2:49PM]

That picture has nothing to do with the article. Those are two OQO 02 computers. OQO has gone out of business.