Plastic Logic: Like Kindle, but Thin like iPhone. | Hacker News Reader

Plastic Logic: Like Kindle, but Thin like iPhone.

plasticlogic.com

13 pointschanux23 comments

Unless this is drastically cheaper than the Kindle, I don't see it doing well. For me, the biggest draw of the Kindle vs. the competition is the anywhere wireless access to a huge library of books. Unless someone else can offer that, I don't see how they'll compete.

Apple, with their partnership with AT&T, is in a position to compete. They also like thin & sexy.

They have the connectivity, but not the catalog.

Indeed. And the catalog, given how backwards the book industry remains, is the key.

My friend recently finalized his book with a major publisher. Despite efforts to edit electronically, he relented to five rounds of fedex'd doorstops. He offered to generate the Kindle edition himself, but this was deemed contractually impossible.

These companies have to be culled to get to our veritable library of ebooks. But in the meantime, I imagine Amazon has been kicking lots of asses to get this far.

Plastic Logic: Like Kindle, but Thin like Kindle 2.

http://twitter.com/stevewoz/status/1940204510

The key is if they can produce something as good as the e-ink display without the need for a glass substrate. The glass is the part that cracks/breaks.

Better interactivity would be key as well. Interactivity increases the value of many kinds of information tenfold. E-ink is still too slow.

  "We expect to accelerate the momentum of our sales in 2010." 
  "Product pricing will be announced in early 2010."
  "Our full feature set will be announced in early 2010."

Am I the only one who thinks these early introductions are kinda silly? Looks awfully vaporous. Let us know a month or two in advance, not a year or two.

Actually, Plastic Logic first started marketing this reader in fall 2008. Makes you wonder.

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29020

Is this a competitor in the eReader market or is it an attempt to sell their technology to companies already making eReaders? The two year thing makes it seem like the latter IMO.

Either way I'm very interested. I hope Apple does something like this. </fanboy>

If someone makes a waterproof one I would spend $1000.

Would you give me $1000 for this zip-lock freezer bag I have here?

(It is waterproof, doesn't block the screen, and lets you operate the buttons through it. Elegant it's not... but it will protect your Kindle from water and sand.)

I'm too afraid it would pop open with frequent use and I'd be out a few hundred. Those things don't stay sealed very well when handled.

But yeah, something of that nature would work.

It isn't waterproof so much as splash-resistant.

They seem waterproof to me. Immerse them in water, and the contents don't get wet. Just don't open the bag while it's under water, obviously.

That's ridiculous.

someone will market it, though.

I can't decide whether you're trying to tell us you're so rich you read in the pool or so busy you read in the shower.

You don't have to be rich to read in a pool or busy to read in the shower, but I'm a big fan of both. It's the only reason I still subscribe to the print edition of Economist and why they're always warped to holy hell when I'm done with them.

I get him... my girlfriend is dragging me off to a kayaking course this weekend. I'll probably have to spend lots of weekends lounging around in an archipelago this summer.

(As others noted, there are zip lock bags. I'd not spend the double price or more, either.)

I might add that a friend of my GF saved his life by being able to make a call with a mobile phone without taking it out of a zip bag.

He said he'll check weather reports better on long kayaking trips. :-)

Seriously. You can get bags designed to hold electronics for $10-$50. If you're not convinced, remember you'll have plenty of cash left in that $1000 for a spare unit.

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