On 7 January 2010, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Plastic Logic will launch an e-reader, called the Que ProReader, which is based on a unique polymer electronic display technology originally developed at Cambridge University.
He discusses launch plans for the e-reader and its e-content platform.
What's happening at Plastic Logic over the next four months in the run up to the launch?
In the last six months we've been limiting the amount of information going out to ensure a strong launch at the CES. But, we will be making several more announcements in the next few weeks. Some of these involve content partnerships and also cover other things that need to be in place.
Is your factory in Dresden producing e-readers intended for commercial markets now?
We are using any that come off the line internally and in the next few months are getting everything ready such as the final qualifications and certifications and so on. We have supplied some of our key partners, AT&T being one, with recent versions, but that's all. No recent versions have been sent to clients even.
How many units do you expect to make in your first year of production?
We are probably not going to give out volume information, the same way that Amazon keeps this information proprietary about the number of Kindle r-readers it is producing. But analysis and forecasts will provide a rough picture of the market breakdown.
With its large screen and annotating functions your first e-reader has been developed with business users in mind, who can use it to read and work with various documents. How is your proposition unique to the iRex Technologies' 1000 series e-readers, which are being used within governments and are being considered by corporate users?
We've done a lot of research with this group of potential users in order to develop a product that will really match their needs and demands and allow them to work on all different types of documents such as emails, spreadsheets and presentations.
The e-content platform, for e-books, e-newspapers and other publications is adding value and extending the functionality of the device. You probably wouldn't buy this if you just wanted to read e-books on it.
We are seeing lots of different hardware devices - e-readers - coming onto the market. Ours can be used with a wide range of documentation and also an e-content platform.
We have a tight relationship with Barnes & Noble which already has an e-commerce platform and the infrastructure in place for its online e-book store and will be extending this to underpin our e-content store.
Can you tell us anything about the pricing and subscription models of newspaper publishers making content available on your e-reader?
Sorry. That's all confidential.
Do your newspaper publishing partners and clients have plans to include advertising as well as editorial for the e-reader?
Yes, some do. All commercial e-readers use black and white displays, including our first version, but there are opportunities to do advertising on these. Next year we will see some different experimentation in this area. Advertising is an important and a valuable source of revenue within newspaper and magazine publishing and e-readers will be able to initiate clever campaigns. Animation eventually, of course, but also advertising that is linked with specific content the user may be looking at on their e-reader.