AT&T Adds Another Gadget: Would-Be Kindle Killer Plastic Logic Signs On
by Peter Kafka
Posted on July 21, 2009 at 9:49 PM PT
Here’s another set of customers for AT&T: People who buy e-book readers from Plastic Logic, the would-be Kindle killer due out next year.
Privately held Plastic Logic says it will rely on AT&T (T) to supply its gadgets with a wireless connection, in the same way that Sprint (S) is the network provider for Amazon’s Kindle.
It’s the second big partnership Plastic Logic has unveiled this week; yesterday, it linked up with Barnes & Noble (BKS), which will be its virtual bookstore. I’m guessing it’s not a coincidence that Amazon (AMZN) announces its earnings Thursday afternoon.
Even if Plastic Logic’s reader becomes as successful as the Kindle, it’s unlikely this will be hugely significant for AT&T, the wireless company iPhone users love to complain about.
Each Apple (AAPL) phone on AT&T’s network represents $30 in monthly data charges alone, plus fees for a voice plan. But while Sprint and Amazon haven’t disclosed their terms, it’s estimated that Amazon pays Sprint something like $2 per Kindle user, per month.
Comments
Ahhh, yes — Plastic Logic…the company that was started ten years ago by three professors in Great Britain…now, let’s think, when was the last time that anybody in Great Britain invented anything useful?…seriously, look on the web for the demonstration they gave of the device at some expo last month…it’s all touch screen so goodness knows what that screen will look like after a few weeks of use…and it’ll be sooooooo much fun reading with those vertical and horizontal menu bars on the screen — vertical menus on BOTH sides of the screen, no less!…and what was the time it took to turn a page?…did I REALLY count that right???…THREE seconds?!…actually closer to FOUR!…may not seem like much but when you’re reading, three or four seconds can FEEL like three MINUTES!…but most LAUGHABLE of all is that the CEO of Plastic Logic said that their device was aimed at the BUSINESS user; it WASN’T designed for CONSUMERS!!…those were his exact words — it WASN’T designed to be a BOOK READER; it was designed for BUSINESS documents!!…WAY TO GO BKS!!!…team up with a company making an ebook reader that wasn’t even designed for book reading!!!…and they wonder why they’re losing money!!!!…Bezos is probably ROLHAO right now!!
Posted by ray taylor at July 22nd, 2009 at 7:05 am