Totally outraged at how badly Sony UK have handed their reader productline, I emailed the head honcho of UK operations (expecting to get my email simply binned), however I got a reply, I also had a phone chat to Derek Allison from UK operations.
Whilst pretty much all of what he told me consisted of excuses, his key point was that Sony would rather delay a product and launch it when it's ready, rather than launch a sub-par product or service onto the market. (I sort a took the wind out his sails when I told him I had walkmans with Sony Connect and SonicStage, which totaly destroyed that argument).
Anyway, he weas suggesting that when the UK Reader store launches, it will have been worth the wait, and everything will be perfect.
Me, I really don't think this will be the case, I think it will be the usual Sony software and service letdown that plagues every Sony product.
This got me pondering.... The PRS-T1 runs Android, and clearly Google have a very fine e-book app and service on that platform, Sony have had ample oppertunity (18 months infact) to partner with Google, or simply let Google deal with the content and Sony just focus on selling e-readers. You really have to ask yourself why the hell haven't they done this.
I would bet money on the fact that if/when we get our reader store, it won't support things we have come to expect from an online store and content service, things like it remembering where you got to in your book so you can continue it on another device - Something that the Google e-Reader Android client does, something that Kobo does, something i believe Kindle does (I may be wrong on that last one).
What on earth are Sony upto?, don't they apprecate the longer they leave this, the higher people's expectations will be, and thus the bigger the chance (or almost certainty) it will fail to meet those expectations?
Whilst getting things right IS important, so is a timely release. Me, i'm considering rooting my PRS-T1 and just using the Google e-reader app and getting my content from them, I really can't be arsed waiting for Sony to get things "perfect" (which usually means their "adequete" and my "abysmal").
The most frustrating thing here of course, is that if Sony wanted to, adding the Android e-reader client to the PRS-T1 is a very straigforward affair, and we would have had a working store at launch, the best stocked stoe too (Google Books is way bigger than anything Amazon can offer, it's usually cheaper too), but Sony being Sony have chosen NOT to take that route.
I really hope heads will roll with the people responsible for these poor buisness decisions that are responsible for destroying the Sony brand and turning into a progressibely worsening laughingstock.
