I think the problems with both readers is a symptom of the respective companies loosing focus on their target markets. These specific products are trying to satisfy too many industries at once. Instead of trying to address publishers, distribution, and customers all at once; these companies should have focused on doing one thing and doing it well.
A simple book reader that just handled pdf files and was priced competitively to books (less than $100), would stand on it's own. However, being priced at >$400 means that these products have to solve many problems at once (availability, distribution, and hardware), and if they don't do all three well, then they will fail.
I'm still looking for the point in these ebook readers. Isn't that why I have my laptop? Or if I'm on a short bus ride and I don't want to wait for it to boot up, press the little power button on my PDA, and navigate to the file that way?
What am I missing here? It really looks like a piece of technology that (like I've said before) was produced simply because someone wanted to make the next step before it was practical to do so.
Have you actually tried using one? I don't know about the Kindle, but Sony Reader is pretty useful. It lasts weeks due to e-ink unlike PDA or notebook. Reading books from a smart phone or PDA is difficult because of screen size / font limitations. This is great for readers that commute via MTA, or people that fly a lot.
I honestly haven't, but I haven't had problems reading on my PDA before, but at the same time I don't need another accessory that can do the same thing as any other of my utilities.
A simple book reader that just handled pdf files and was priced competitively to books (less than $100), would stand on it's own. However, being priced at >$400 means that these products have to solve many problems at once (availability, distribution, and hardware), and if they don't do all three well, then they will fail.