Samsung's Papyrus e-book reader nears launch

(Credit: Pocket-lint.com)

Samsung's upcoming e-book reader, the Papyrus, had its debut at CES in January, but the stylish looking device is now making the rounds in Europe with some new details in tow. What's interesting about it is that it seems to have quite a bit of PDA in it as Samsung's gone with a touch screen (an aluminum stylus is included), and is bundling some utility applications such as a calculator, scheduler, and contacts. The Papyrus is an A5-size e-ink device (it's 5.8 inches by 8.3 inches while the entire Kindle 2 measures 5.3 inches by 8 inches with a 6-inch screen).

Samsung's new e-book reader will come in several colors and is initially set to launch in Korea in June. The company is reportedly looking toward a future release for the U.K. first, and then the U.S.--but that may be months away. While no pricing has been set, word is the Papyrus will come out with a sub-$300 price tag. That's good because it allegedly only comes with 512MB of internal memory and no SD expansion slot.

Aside from the fact that Samsung may have a problem with Sharp already having a Papyrus electronic dictionary, the real question is what sort of e-books and documents you'll be able to read on the Papyrus--and whether Samsung has an e-book store in the works.

Somehow, I doubt that even at the cheaper price point this will be a Kindle 2 or Sony Reader killer, though hopefully it will get enough attention to encourage Amazon and Sony to drop their e-book reader prices a bit. What do you think?

(Source: Gizmodo via Pocket-lint)

[CliffK2]

I would agree with you that we can hope that Amazon will drop the Kindle's price. But I expect they will follow the Apple model - slow to drop prices, but instead introduce new models with new features but holding to a high( but not too high) price. Amazon has already done it once with the Kindle line. Price did not drop, but more features were added to the Kindle 2.

I hope I am wrong though. I would like to buy the fourth generation Kindle (larger screen, color, more memory, open format) for $175 in 2011.

[Jane in KC]

I agree on all counts, except that I'll be surprised if we see Kindle at $175.

[surflizard]

I like the form factor and stylus interface. Limited storage and ~$300 price make me a little sad, though.

[Charbax]

Samsung needs to have WiFi and HSDPA inside of it. And they need it to run some Linux OS like Android for software expansion, especially since the touchscreen can provide so many interesting interface features. They need to make it a 5" E-Ink screen with less bezel so it can be nicely pocketable. You can't make it the "ipod of reading" type of groundbraking device if it isn't pocketable.

[mbeoletto]

It would be great if the eBook readers would come down some in price. I'm definitely interested in the Kindle 2 but I think $370 is still a little high considering it really is just a reading tool and not an all around multimedia device. If the Kindle 2 were more like $200, I would have purchased it already and Amazon should realize that the true profit making should be in selling content. It probably wouldn't take long for me to buy $170 worth of content.

[doribeans]

I just bought a "new" Palm M500 (replaced my old m125) and love reading on it. I cost me less than $40. I use Mobipocket on it (an Amazon.com program) for free. It fits perfectly in my hand and reads well. I don't have broadband access but I can download easy enough and load books, short stories and news feeds to my SD card.

I won't pay more than $50 for a reader itself and forget paying more for an e-book than I can pay for a paperback. Only negative is the # of books that have not been put into digital format, but that is an issue with any e-reader at this point.

[Rigmaster]

E-book readers will be marginal standalone products until the prices come down significantly. The value of them is not in the hardware, it's in the availability and ease of e-books themselves. Netbooks, smartphones, mp3/video players, and iPods are multi-purpose products with significantly more storage and flexibility. E-readers will suffer significant setbacks as soon as content-creators and distributors figure out how to make significant profit from those existing channels.

I don't think e-book readers will have a significant market unless they come down to $100 or below. If that doesn't happen, they'll become the next PDA-like product that got absorbed by something more practical.

[twriter]

I think the screen is still too small, and the price point is still too high.

[readerman99]

What will make this Samsung a winner is the the ability to write on it. I've been looking for something like this for my business. Frankly I'm a little tired of the writing down phone numbers, address's and names on pieces of scrap paper that get lost. Having something this would make my life easier.

[Chameleon81]

tablet pc?