Oct 30
Cybook Gen 3 overwhelming demand
I was just at Mobileread and noticed this. Apparently, demand has exceeded supply and shipments are delayed until at least December 5th. So if you wanted one, I hope you were able to get your order in on time. So is this good or bad news? For their sake and e-books in general I am hoping that it is good news. Maybe people who were disappointed by Kindle’s no show and Sony’s BBeB format jumped at the chance to get a reader. Another possibility is the non-availability of the Sony reader outside of the U.S. If this is the case, Bookeen should have had someone better in charge of sales forecast analysis. Still, given e-books’ past lukewarm reception, maybe a more conservative outlook was called for. Also keep in mind Bookeen is rather a small organization.
Then there’s another side. Could it be that Bookeen’s delayed release dates and anxious potential buyers pressured them to offer their reader before enough were made? I think most people were willing to wait, but overall it doesn’t look good to keep missing a target. This way they have met their release date, created hype about demand (just like Sony), and at least satisfied the lucky ones who ordered quickly. Now their readers will be out in the wild generating interest.
Good or bad, how will this play out? A wait of at least a month after delayed releases has got to turn some away. I hope this does have a happy ending. The guys at Bookeen are great and their customer service rocks. Meanwhile, it’s a good thing I wasn’t in a rush to get one. I don’t think I could have survived the wait.
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