And even if it is better and costs only $200 to produce, that's still going to mean it's a hell of a lot more expensive at retail. $200 to produce a screen does not mean that a laptop or ereader could be produced that would sell for $200. You have to figure it's at least 100% markup or more just to bring the product to retail.

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With a little bit of tweaking, I could see it as a great e-paper alternative though. It is very sharp and high contrast.

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First, who reads more than one book at a time? Even on vacation, I could see bringing maybe two books, just in case you finish the first one. I don't see why would would need to have 800 books with you at any given time.

Second, there's no real price incentive. I can buy a paperback for, what, $7.99? Even if an e-book is only $4, I'd have to buy nearly a hundred of them to make up the cost of a nearly $400 reader.

Finally, the manufacturing of a book outweighs the manufacturing of an e-reader any day of the week. A book never runs out of batteries. You don't have to worry about losing an expensive piece of equipment if you lose a book. The tactile sensation of turning the pages of a book is preferable to the buttons used to turn the pages of an e-book.

I think the future of e-readers will be as devices checked out to students for the purposes of storing textbooks. Although I have no desire for an e-reader for personal use, I think it would be a great convenience to use here at college. I would absolutely rent or purchase one to put all my textbooks on, textbooks that should be infinitely cheaper (and lighter) than their physical counterparts.

Overall, though, I think e-readers for personal use will continue to be for a niche market and won't ever really hit the mainstream in the way Amazon and other companies hope.

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You can't have your cake and eat it too! You want a fast refresh technology that is self illuminating, easy on the eyes, and cheap. All of those things (except cost) are mutually exclusive. You can't stare at a light bulb and say it's easy on the eyes. By definition, it's not going to be comfortable to do that.

On the cost front, you need to study the electronics industry a bit. The cost of the technology won't come down until there are literally millions and millions of units sold. Only then can the profits from the manufacture of the displays displace the research cost. I know you know this already - you post about it with other technology on a regular basis. Look at what happened with {LCD, TFT, Plasma} display technology. High cost until the digital television switch over came and now they're just about the cheapest TV's I've ever seen in my lifetime.

I don't know. It doesn't seem like a very well written post. You're saying the Kindle isn't a good product when you at the same time have to realize that it's from a market in it's infancy. For what it is, it's the best offering available. Not buying it and telling others to pass on it will not help it's adoption or development.

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Now I read everything on my iPhone and based on my past "readers" I find the iPhone to be the perfect reader. The ability to download books directly from the Web is fantastic. I just can't see lugging around the huge, single-purpose Kindle for reading books. I guess it's a good transition device for hardcore dead-tree media readers, but for any gadget guy, today's cell phones are perfect, do-it-all book readers. Just my $.02.

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