Is The Que Really Competing With The Kindle?
January 11, 2010 by Keith Ryder
Filed under Gadgets
UK based Plastic Logic has now revealed its e-book reader – the Que – which may compete with Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader. The lightweight Que, which incorporates touch screen controls, was put on display at the CES in Las Vegas.
More than ten years of research and development work has gone into the Que at Cambridge University in the UK. The R&D program is estimated to have cost more than $ 200m.
3G wireless connectivity and a very large black and white screen is incorporated in the reader. It is significantly more expensive than Amazon’s Kindle and is intended for “mobile professionals”.
There is a choice of two different models. The 4GB model sells for $ 649 and the 8 GB sells for $ 799. Amazon’s Kindle 2.0 and the larger DX model (which is probably more closely comparable with the Que) retail for $ 259 and $ 489 respectively. The 4GB Que has memory space sufficient for around 35,000 documents. The 8GB model can store 75,000 documents – which is equivalent to the contents of seventy five filing cabinets.
The Que is, according to Plastic Logic, “more than an eReader”. It has an enormous 10.7″ shatterproof display – currently the largest e-book reader display in the world. Apart from the huge size, the other noteworthy feature of the display is that it is made from plastic rather than glass. This means that it is more durable, lighter and surprisingly flexible.
The overall dimensions of the device are 8.5 X 11 X 0.33 inches and it weighs less than a typical monthly magazine – around about one pound. It is not dissimilar to carrying a pad of letter sized paper around with you.
The fact that the Que is more than an e-book reader hasn’t stopped Plastic Logic agreeing a deal with Barnes and Noble who will furnish electronic books for the device. Partnerships with newspapers, such as USA Today, have also been agreed.
Que users will be able to choose from over 700,000 titles on the Barnes and Noble website. Amazon have around 400,000 Kindle titles available on their Kindle store – but these are being added to at a rate of a little over 500 each day.
The Que will begin shipping in mid-April 2010. Customers can buy it from either the Que website or from the Barnes and Noble website. It’s difficult to predict if Amazon will be truly concerned. It may be that the Que is genuinely more than an e-book reader – in which case the two devices will be operating in different market segments. On the other hand, if they do wind up competing for the same customer base then, even without the price advantage that the Kindle enjoys, Amazon probably have good reason to feel quietly confident that their Kindle family will be able to see off this latest “Kindle Killer”.
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