Freescale's Cheap Chip Could Mean Sub-$99 E-Readers

eldavojohn writes "Last week, Freescale Semiconductor announced their i.MX508 chip and a few days ago released a rather bland and boring announcement that it's available. But there was at least one interesting line from that press release, 'The i.MX508 applications processor is expected to be priced at less than $10 (USD) in quantities greater than 250K units.' Yes, less than ten dollars. This sparked a wave of articles detailing how this new chip will allow the sub-$99 e-reader to emerge and according to market research, consumers are thirsty for something much more affordable than the Kindle."

Re:But what about the cost of e-ink?

[Mitsoid]

iSuppli reports the cost of the display modile is ESTIMATED at $60 [isuppli.com]
I put estimated in capital letters as TFA I linked says its an estimate.
Anyway, Just throwing that out there for those curious about the cost breakdown

Really wont change the price

[quo_vadis]

According to isuppli's teardown of the kindle [isuppli.com] the E Ink display is $60. The main processor (made by Freescale) is ~$8. The EPD chip, which is what becomes redundant adds only $4.31 to the BOM. The main point is you cannot expect E Ink based readers to get any cheaper any time soon. Any price cuts will only come about due to increased competition from different technologies like Pixel Qi's, or by sacrificing things like onboard wireless (which adds ~$40 to the cost of the Kindle).

Re:But what about the cost of e-ink?

[confused one]

Yeah, based on what you've linked to the Kindle processor is only $8.64. The new processor incorporates features that represent another $8.71 worth of IC's. So, this new processor reduces the price an estimated $7 over what's in the Kindle. Still, any improvement helps.

How about focusing on functionality instead of $

[JumpDrive]

The main reason I don't buy an eReader is a cost vs functionality. Most of the books I read, can be obtained in pdf format. So buying a computer with ability to read pdf format is more cost effective. Now if the functionality were to be increased so that I could take a pdf document and bookmark pages, scribble notes on it and such I would be happier with an eReader. There are some versions of eReaders which have this functionality, but in some cases I've heard you can lose this information. Maybe they should be thinking about eBooks being a lot cheaper or how about transitional marketing. Something where if you buy the hard copy you can obtain the electronic copy for free. Then I could better determine whether it's right for me. But then we are back to the entry level cost and the difference in cost between an eBook vs paper. Some of the books I have seen are advertised as $47 for paper and $44 for the electronic copy. So where do I come out ahead, yeah if most of my reading was fiction then it would be okay, but 90% of my reading is technical.

Re:But what about the cost of e-ink?

[sznupi]

That Motorola phone doesn't have a raster display though; it has preset symbols + alphanumeric display (similar to 7-segment displays of classic calculators)

Re:But what about the cost of e-ink?

[Anonymous Coward]

My wife's ECTACO jetbook lite was about HALF the cost of the kindle.

When I tried to explain to her I had a limited budget when buying for her (it was an xmas present), she said she loved it, and asked me "why the f*** would anyone want wireless on a book reader?" I told her it was for purchasing books on the go.
Her reply was "I have a perfectly good computer for that, and at least TWO ways to get them onto this thing". All the arguments about "value" when it comes to reader costs just kinda deflated in the face of such logic.

Point is, if you don't act like say, Apple and try to control everything on your device, there is no need for the extra costs based on projected usage patterns, or worse still, suggested usage patterns. I'll use my device the way I see fit.

She's perfectly happy now with 'bookbook' as it has been nicknamed.

Re:Absolutely

[StayFrosty]

I'm going to wait to see if there's another revolution in book stores (Google Books, or something similar) that doesn't lock me into just one...

Pretty much all e-readers with the exception of the kindle use the epub format. No matter what e-reader you get you are not really licked in to any book store. You just download the book from whatever bookstore or other souce and copy it to the e-reader. Most bookstores these days sell in the epub format so that makes everything nice and easy. I've even seen a few libraries start "lending" ebooks in the epub and pdf formats as well.

Re:Going down.

[rwa2]

On the bright side, you can get a half decent Palm Z22 [amazon.com] for under $100 now. Load up Plucker and a bunch of books and websites sync'd via Sunrise-Desktop and you're set for a few weeks. Also with TCPMP you can play back music and movies. And it comes with a much better PIM than Android and maybe even iPhone.

Yes, I'm still holding out with my Palm T|X. Bluetooth tethering to a $10/mo. unlimited wap data plan, where I can access ssh, vnc, and much of the web with Opera Mini. Haven't found anything much better to upgrade to yet. Just wish Google Maps Mobile would update their PalmOS Garnet client :P

$9.99 is nothing special

[myforwik]

Obviously not many electronic engineers around slashdot... The main point of the chip is that the eink display driving is direct, this will save about $5. if you don't believe me you can get the cpu that does the same for $8 and the display chip for $6.50....

Re:Why would I want one again?

[shutdown -p now]

If you do all your reading at home where you don't need to carry your books around, there's not really much reason to have one.

It's still lighter than most books. It also lets me make the font bigger, so I can read without wearing eyeglasses. Bookmarks are less of a hassle as well, and table of contents is actually navigable.

I mostly read at home, but I still find my PRS-505 to be more convenient than paper books.

Re:refresh

[Dare nMc]

FYI, the nook has Trook [nookdevs.com] as a unsupported add-on that does exactly this. It is really the perfect reader for news, it pulls the rss feed, and you browse the headlines like a iPhone finger motions. You click the articles you want and it pulls them from wifi to the Big screen.
I have never had a better browsing experience. But it still is complete crap for a site like slashdot where you may want to enter data at some point... (you can, but the small touch keyboard is useable...)
It is actually really easy to install, simply stick a micro-sd card into the nook back panel, download the latest firmware from Trook, copy it to the device with USB, turn the nook all the way off, and back on holding the page turn button. done. May void warranty, YMMV...
The only downside, is the nook screen is so nice for viewing, it makes reading text from my PC noticeably sucky now.

Re:But what about the cost of e-ink?

[Anonymous Coward]

except you can do this already nothing prevents you from doing so

Re:But what about the cost of e-ink?

[Minwee]

Gasp - you might even buy PDFs from a competitor!

Yes, you might [arstechnica.com]. And then you can load them directly through USB. Onto your Kindle, without paying Amazon a penny for the privilege. Funny how that works.