Foxconn, China Mobile to Develop Ebook Reader

News
By Jane McEntegart
published

China Mobile and Foxconn are discussing the possibility of an ebook reader, according to CM's chairman, Wang Jianzhou.

Ebook readers are really starting to take off. There are now several iterations of the Kindle available, along with some fairly recent updates to Sony's line of readers. Plastic Logic is all set to release its own ereader in a partnership with Barnes and Noble and so, it seems Foxconn and China Mobile have a few ideas of their own.

According to Digitimes, China Mobile chairman Wang Jianzhou recently said the wireless network plans to team up with Foxconn Electronics for the production of ereaders and that he will meet with Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou to discuss the possible partnership. Digitimes went on to cite Wang as saying shipments could start as early as the first half of 2010.

Do you have an ereader? If not, do you plan on buying one in the near future or are you waiting for something a little more innovative than the products currently available? 

Jane McEntegart
14 Comments Comment from the forums
  • deadlockedworld
    pfff. ipad will quickly achieve dominance with all of its apps.
    Reply
  • tenor77
    Will it make people commit suicide?
    Reply
  • doc70
    I am new in this thing but I have a Sony PRS 505 and I am happy with it. With an SD card you can put a ton of books on it and you can not loose tham by being remotely deleted or anything. I use OpenOffice to convert books to pdf and have had no problems; to me touch screen on an ereader is not important, it could even lead to inadvertently turn the page when I want to show some paragraph on the page to someone else, so I am happy with the turn page button. As far as screen quality, the epaper is very good for my eyes and I do not like the later issued backlit one, as it is not so crisp and friendly... my opinion.
    The more competition, the merrier; I just wish they would be available in more retail stores, so one could try before buying them...it's important because we're talking hours of staring at the screen.
    Reply
  • B-Unit
    tenor77Will it make people commit suicide?Only if they 'loose' the prototype...
    Reply
  • FSXFan
    I guess I don't understand the point of these reader devices. The (small) Kindle costs $300 and looks like it would break the first time it was dropped. For around the same money (or less) you could get a netbook. Wouldn't that do everything the Kindle would and then some? The Kindle has a long battery life and a screen that looks like paper, but I don't have any trouble reading an LCD anyway and I've never wanted to sit on a beach reading even as long as it takes for a netbook battery to drain. You can get 3G for your netbook too and do a lot more than download a book or newspaper article.

    Also, nobody's ever deleted any of my books from my PC.
    Reply
  • jhgoodwin
    I would buy one if it had better PDF support than Kindle, or a great desktop re-encoding program. Re-encoded files should still look good, keep images in the document, support resizing text, etc. In addition, it needs a great e-ink image, non-flashing refresh like Kindle currently does, and ideally color plus a expansion memory slot. Also, the Kindle DX size is just about right. I'd also like a setting where the device idled off without changing the screen like Kindle DX does. I like the idea of Amazon's mobile purchase with preview.
    Reply
  • chaohsiangchen
    I'm torn apart between electronic books and paper back. I like paper back, but some books, such as Leszek Kolakowski's "Main Currents of Marxism," a three-volume master piece on why Stalinist is the logic conclusion and natural evolution of communism, is too big to carry around.
    Reply
  • cekasone
    For some odd reason, when i see Foxconn and China in the same headline, i think about death.
    Reply
  • I see no real future in e-ink.

    PixelQi is closer to a more suitable solution. There's a trade off in battery life, but PiQi screens are fluid motion screens (downto ~5ms) while E-ink will always stay between 300-1000ms refresh rate per screen.
    Plus, it loses contrast over time. Many of the older e-ink screens already have a grey background.

    The Sony PRS-505 has a moderate pdf support, but 6" is just too small for regular PDF reading.
    The majority of A4/letterbox sized pdf documents show too small on such a screen.
    The price of e-ink is expensive,but it uses very little battery, and is small and light too.
    Reply
  • dimar
    When there's going to be a 9 - 10" reader with color, popular format support, Wi-Fi, 3G, and SD card reader, for 100$ - 300$, I'll buy few for sure :-)

    Reply