It would be really nice to be able to believe in the success of the Que proReader (and not just because the Financial Times is one of the publishers that has done a deal with Plastic Logic, the company that makes the device).
The history of the Que is one of those compelling technology stories that leaves you rooting for the people behind it, and the wide vision that it represents is infectious. Like all ambitious visions, though, this one relies on perfect execution.
Until the full reviews are in I’ll suspend final judgment, but my fear is that CEO Rich Archuleta’s claim that the Que marks the arrival of the “paperless briefcase” will end up being filed with all those similar promises of “paperless offices” we’ve heard over the years.
Plastic Logic’s roots are in technology developed at Cambridge University in the 1980s. The idea was based on printing semiconductors on a plastic substrate rather than using silicon – something that would greatly reduce both material and manufacturing costs.
The technology was spun out into a company ten years ago, which then set out to create a product capable of showing off the virtues of the technology: a large-screen, lightweight, flexible screen for a digital reading device. Breaking all the rules of the modern consumer electronics business, Plastic Logic even built its own expensive fab in Germany – long before it was ready to start churning out Ques.
Given the history, it’s amazing the Que looks as good as it does (after all, Intel’s ventures into consumer electronics devices over the years have bombed).
This is a high-end eReader for business users, and it’s priced to match: $649 for a 4GB version that connects with WiFi and bluetooth, or $799 for a 8GB model that also comes with 3G from AT&T. Orders can be placed on the company’s website now, with shipments scheduled to begin in April. Barnes & Noble, which is running the online store that supports the Que, is also going to sell the hardware.
While it downloads and displays books, the device is really aimed at all the material that makes up the bulk of the average business user’s day: things like work documents, email and (we hope) newspapers. It syncs with Outlook to display the user’s daily calendar on the home screen, and the touchscreen interface is navigated with taps and swipes.
There are things to carp about. The response time seems very slow when you tap. The screen looks dull and uninspiring compared with the print-outs and back-lit computer screens that make up most office reading. But that aside, it seems to perform adequately as a basic large-screen reading device. And the thought of not printing out reams of paper to read the next time you get on a plane is certainly an appealing one.
The real issue comes with the input features. Business documents, says Archuleta, aren’t just for reading, they’re tools for making decisions – you need to annotate them, share them with colleagues, cross-reference them. You don’t just read them in a linear way like a novel, you flick around between pages.
The Que’s UI tries to solve all of these things, but what today’s demo really made you think of was the amazing facility of good, old-fashioned paper. For jotting down your thoughts and scribbling over someone else’s, it can’t be beaten.
The inherent advantages of digital – being able to capture your scribbles electronically and transmit them to co-workers – may outweigh this. But my bet is that most executive briefcases will bulge with real paper for a long time to come.
