Barnes & Noble Lands Irex, Another Would-Be Kindle Killer
by Peter Kafka
Posted on August 24, 2009 at 3:00 AM PT
Here’s another company choosing a side in the coming e-book war: Irex Technologies, a Dutch company that plans on selling a Kindle-like reader in the U.S. this fall, has allied itself with Barnes & Noble’s online bookstore.
Irex is the second e-book reader company to join up with Barnes & Noble (BKS); earlier this summer Plastic Logic made a similar announcement. Neither company has a product that’s actually on the U.S. market.
Plastic Logic says its device, which it showed off at the D7 conference in late May, will go on sale next year; Irex sells machines in Europe, but hasn’t demoed its newest gadget in the U.S. yet. Its says its newest reader will feature an 8.1-inch touchscreen and a 3G wireless connection.
Irex doesn’t spell it out, but suggests that the relationship with the bookseller won’t be exclusive. Canned quote from Kevin Hamilton, North American CEO of Irex Technologies: “We will change the dynamics of the consumer market–users want to easily purchase content from a variety of sources and we allow them to read it on an IREX eReader as well as other devices.”
The announcement is one of a series we’ve seen this summer as would-be rivals to Amazon’s Kindle try to gear up for a big push against the market leader. The jostling for position includes competing boasts about whose bookstore is bigger and whose is more open.
Part of me thinks this is all for naught since Amazon has moved so far ahead of the pack already. And part of me thinks the e-book industry remains wide open since it’s still so very small and undefined. And it’s entirely possible that the e-book market won’t be dominated by single-use products like the Kindle, but will end up being driven by smartphones like Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone.
Sony (SNE), meanwhile, has already introduced a new line of readers this month and has another product announcement set for Tuesday morning in New York. I’ll drop by that one and report back….
[Image credit: sapphireblue]
Comments
I’ve been the happy owner of an Irex Iliad ebook reader for two years so your comment “Neither company has a product that’s actually on the the market.” made me go “Huh?”
Irex now has a second generation product out. The original Iliad was the best ebook readed for the time in my opinion (although a bit pricey). It’s large screen and open source OS made it the best choice for me.
Posted by Rob Mills at August 24th, 2009 at 5:33 amThanks, Rob. I’ll clarify: Irex doesn’t sell its machine in the US, but plans to sell its 3rd-gen machine here this fall.
Posted by Peter Kafka at August 24th, 2009 at 5:55 amTotally agree with your conclusions, Peter – Amazon is already on v4 of its product and has large competitive advantages, but its still very early and the convenience of smart phones will unquestionably capture share.
Posted by Jonathan Marcus at August 24th, 2009 at 4:15 pm