Plastic Logic QUE proReader delayed: time to reevaluate that pre-order?
By Thomas Ricker 
posted March 12th 2010 5:53AM
posted March 12th 2010 5:53AM
Did you by any chance get in on the early QUE proReader pre-order? Well, we've got news for you that might be good or bad depending upon your perspective. A pre-orderer just forwarded us an email received from Richard Archuleta, CEO of Plastic Logic, detailing a shipment delay from mid-April to sometime in the summer, a date echoed by the QUE product site at Barnes & Noble. According to the email, the delay is due to a desire to "fine-tune the features and enhance the overall product experience." Now the good news: credit cards have not been charged leaving disgruntled hopefuls either $649 (for the 4GB WiFi model) or $799 (for the 8GB WiFi + 3G model) to spend on something else. There are certainly more e-reader choices available now than when the QUE proReader went up for pre-order on January 7th -- though not with the same sophisticated business-use approach or big 10.5-inch display... for that, you'll have to wait for Skiff to ship. Or maybe you'd prefer a full color LCD tablet instead? Regardless, you do have choices. Full email after the break.[Thanks, Anonymous Tipster]
Seems like most ereaders are delaying for this or that reason all of a sudden.
@TristWolf
Two words. Ponzi scheme.
They build them using pre-order money since they have very little funding from investors.
$649 for the 4GB wifi only model?
Are they out of their minds!! No wonder they're delaying shipment, they need to add something else in that justifies that ridiculous price tag.
Instead of being cryptic about it, he should say was exactly they are going to fine tune and what features they will improve. Will they be adding color and a cool web browser?
It sounds like an excuse for some sort of product defect or delay. Maybe they are having quality or manufacturing issues .. hope they properly address it instead of shipping stuff that barely passes reliability tests.
@JS
Considering they're aiming this thing at business users you'd thing it would at least have the ability to send emails, but no.
Sorry but business users will look at this, then an iPad and probably lol at how this thing can even exist.
QUE are probably thinking the same
You call that delayed? I remember back in 2008 when they said it was going to be released at the start of 2009.
@Timmmmmm I remember 2 years ago when this device looked cool, now with all the tablets and PixelQi devices that are supposed to come out it just seems lame. And they really need to do something about that $649 price before its released because they won't make it to the end of the year at that price
At $650 and $800 they can delay that thing forever! No way I would pay that much just to read the freakin paper. Get a netbook for $400 and get 10x the usage out of it.
@RLJSlick You are kidding, right?
Let's like saying get a desktop or a laptop for even greater usage. Netbooks might allow you to do more things but I doubt that anyone could read continuously on one. I sucked it up and bought a Kindle DX for reading documents on the go - battery life, less tiring on my eyes were the key reasons. A netbook might allow me to surf the net but I can barely read for more than 15 minutes at a time on a backlit screen. I have to carry around a large power cord as well.
I will not buy this device but I do not think that comparing a netbook to it (or any other ereader) is fair or useful just because they both have screens and are portable.
One more nail in the coffin. Product looked great, then it came out at twice the price it should have been, and now it's 12 months later to market than it should have been.
It's not going to work - even I would rather have an ipad than this now, and I'm an e-ink fan.
If it's one thing we can be happy about the iPad is that it let all of the device manufacturers realize that they can't possibly expect to deliver a device to the masses at a ridiculous price tag with limited resources, capabilites and "sex appeal" for the consumers. I mean look at the Joojoo pre-iPad then look at the Joojoo post-iPad. The interface looks much better in my opinion.
I tell ya if it's one thing Apple's good at it's lighting a fire under lazy hardware providers trying to cash in on the latest craze.
@Brother Unit No 4 And still Notion Ink's Adam, poos all over iPad . . . before and after the iPad premier in January.
@Brother Unit No 4
I can't wait to see how all these manufacturers are going to produce tablets at netbook prices. Everyone on Engadget is holding out for some mythical $300 tablet that does everything better than the iPad. This I have to see. The low-end Kindle can barely meet that price point and it's just a basic reader.
What Engadget? No love for Notion Ink's Adam? For shame!!!
"Now the good news: credit cards have not been charged"
It's not legal for a retailer to charge a credit card for a pre-order, so this shouldn't be much of a surprise.
QUE who? Never heard of them.
I hope it comes to market.