Alas, poor Que ProReader, we hardly knew ye: Plastic Logic succumbs to the new realities of the eReader market and scraps development of the Que, saying the firm would on to a next-generation product.
"We recognize the market has dramatically changed, and with the product delays we have experienced, it no longer make sense for us to move forward with our first generation electronic reading product," said Plastic Logic CEO Richard Archuleta. "This was a hard decision, but is the best one for our company, our investors and our customers."
Archuleta added: "We plan to take the necessary time needed to re-enter the market as we refocus, redesign and retool for our next generation ProReader product. We continue to perfect our core plastic electronic technology and manufacturing processes that are central to our product's unique value proposition."
Of course, many would argue that the company's deliberate pace in a fast-moving tech world is what doomed it when it came to the Que, a product that wowed in prototype form and had the potential to revolutionize the eReader world. The Que, which dazzled crowds when displayed at January's CES show, promised to be a game-changer: a light, thin, power-efficient eReader with wireless and 3G connectivity.
As it ends up, Plastic Logic's ambition outpaced its abilities: the years the product spent in development went for naught after the Kindle and then the iPad were released. True, the Kindle doesn't have the wow factor of the Que, but it has monster distribution and promotion, and the iPad rewrote the ruies on pads with its color display and decent battery life. And given that the Que was never going to compete on a price basis, it needed to overwhelm in terms of capabilities.
So the game plan is to work on the next-generation Que ProReader, whatever that means. The focus for Plastic Logic has shifted as well: the plan is to hit the enterprise with portable data units rather than consumer magazine/newspaper readers. The idea behind what Plastic Logic is still intriguing: replacing silicon with plastic.
Eight months ago we were looking at the future of eReaders at CES with the Skiff and the ProReader. Both those projects are dead, and the future appears to belong to the pioneers: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple. Amazing.
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