WikiReader: OpenMoko's "Project B"

Posted Oct 15, 2009 18:01 UTC (Thu) by anselm (subscriber, #2796) [Link]

One way to view the WikiReader is as a luxury item -- a gadget that nobody really needs desperately, much like smartphones or fancy shoes. In this way it does compete for the $60 or $99 that gadget-craving people would otherwise spend on a high-class dinner or a shopping spree at the CD store. But this would still be the case if it was $199 instead of $99; with gadgets like this you must pick the initial price point carefully since you don't want to make it too expensive (so even the gadget cravers will consider it outrageous) nor too cheap (so you hurt your revenue because people who would happily have paid more at the start will now pay less).

The comparison to things like the Nintendo DS or the Kindle that other people in this thread have suggested is sort-of beside the point since these are either way more expensive and complicated devices, or else don't come with Wikipedia, anyway. Of course any nerd will be able to put Wikipedia on their Nintendo DS, but there is a large number of non-nerds who wold never bother to do so but would still like a WikiReader to use or show off. (Personally I wouldn't mind a WikiReader but I don't see myself getting a Nintendo DS anytime soon, even though it will also play games -- I'm probably stupid that way.) The OpenMoko people seem to see a market for a no-frills device that does one thing (display Wikipedia articles) reasonably well, and comes with an update plan. In that way it competes with large printed encyclopedias, which are vastly more expensive and bulky and are absolute bears to update (even if they usually contain pretty pictures as well as text).

The other way in which you can view the WikiReader is as something that every kid should have in their school bag. At $99 this isn't really a viable proposition but chances are that prices will come down in time. It took some time for electronic pocket calculators (a luxury item if ever there was one when they first came out) to become standard household items, and it may well be that the WikiReader is the first step along a similar path. It's surely not the be-all and end-all of portable encyclopedia devices (let alone e-book readers) but IMHO it is something that is well worth trying. Whether its initial retail price is $39 or $99 or even $149 is, in comparison, fairly insignificant. How much was the first Sony Walkman again?