WikiReader Device

For a long time now, Wikipedia has maintained dominance over rivals such as Microsoft's Encarta and Encyclopedia Brittanica. Now, it has been turned into a product. It comes in a handy box about the size of an alarm clock with a one-color touchscreen, three buttons, and a MicroSD card. It runs on two AAA batteries and the reviews seem to boast that the two batteries provide long battery life. The MicroSD card can either be regularly updated on the firm's website or updates will be sent to a user at least four times a year for a price of $30.

Sean Moss-Pultz is the designer of the device and it goes for $99. The device is very cheap, has a simple design and can be used to read in sunlight. With this device, users have access to all the same information, millions of topics, that could be accessed online at wikipedia.com, but without internet connectivity. The navigations seems very simple and easy to use. Articles are scrolled with a stroke of the finger and hyperlinks selected with a simple tap.

We expect to see parents buy wikireader for their kids as gifts. It would be very useful to those parents who limit the number of hours their children are allowed access to the internet. The new wikireader helps such children connect to the wonderful and informative topics that could be found on the wikipedia’s website without an internet connection.

This new device has great business potential but what we can't say for certain is if it will be a big success. The designer Sean Moses-Pultz is no stranger to failure with the OpenMoko mobile phone. However, he may have learned from his mistakes for this new project. Nonetheless, in this modern day of widespread internet connectivity, I doubt if there are that many children or adults that would want to carry around such a device like they do with an Apple Ipod or a cell phone. I know personally that I would prefer one affordable device that can do it all. Wikireader should have a small market to sell to though.

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-By Dominic

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