Amidst heavy price competition between Palm, Sony and Handspring in the mid-range and entry-level PDA markets, Franklin Electronics' eBookMan line sees its prices slashed.
The competition in the PDA market is heating up, and that is particularly true after Sony in the last 6 months have introduced a slew of new models - with several innovative but proprietary features. The entry-level and mid-range markets now see hefty competition between the three major players Palm, Sony and Handspring, which also affects other and more minor players such as Franklin Electronics.
 | Franklin's eBookMan is an eBook reader with PDA functions, and not the more common PDA with eBook support
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Most likely as a result of this, Franklin Electronics on Wednesday announced a price reduction on its eBookMan line of mainly-eBook-readers-but-also-a-PDA line, with the mid-level 8 MB EBM-901 being reduced from $179 USD to $149 USD, and the 16MB EBM-911 being reduced from $229 USD to $199 USD. Additionally, Franklin is offering a mail-in rebate for the entire line of eBookMan
including the opening price point EBM-900, valid through January 2002, where customsers with can save an additional $30 - $50 depending on which model they choose.
When customers combine Franklin's price reduction and rebate with the $50 rebate currently offered by Audible.com, the value and price savings are unprecedented. The net price after mail-in savings (counting the $50 USD worth of mail-in rebate for Audible's aBook service) is just $49 USD for the EBM-901, while the higher end EBM-911 can net to $99 USD should the user opt for both rebates.
"These price reductions and promotional rebates are a compelling reason for new handheld users and eBook readers to embrace eBookMan technology," said Barry Lipsky, President and CEO of Franklin Electronic Publishers. "We continue to leverage our existing relationships with developers and publishers, as well as formulate new partnerships, to bring new and compelling content that our users demand."
Given the unique approach the eBookMan has to reading eBooks, and it being the only device that is capable of reading eBooks in Microsoft's Reader format in addition to Pocket PCs, many believe it has a good chance of fighting it out as a low-price eBook reader - if the price wars don't get too fierce, that is.
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