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Whatever happened to cheap eReaders?

Way back in 2012, The Guardian reviewed an eInk reader which cost a mere £8. The txtr beagle was designed to be a stripped-down and simplified eReader. As far as I can tell, it never shipped. There were a few review units sent out but I can't find any evidence of consumers getting their hands on one. Also, that £8 price was the subsidised price when purchased with a mobile contract. Their w…

A basic 6 inch screen with wiring costs around £20 wholesale - that's from Alibaba, so doesn't include tax and shipping. A low-price manufacturer is unlikely to also run a book store and wouldn't be able to cross-subsidise their hardware with content sales. Other than Kobo and Amazon, no book retailer wants to stray outside their core competency to develop and subsidise hardware.

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