Mashable - The Social Media Guide - Latest Comments in Would You Pay $99 for Wikipedia in Your Pocket?

Re: Would You Pay $99 for Wikipedia in Your Pocket?

Nicolas — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 09:44:34 -0000

I got it as a xmas present and beyond the fact that it can be a cool hackable geek toy, there are two nice things about this device compared to a smartphone : it's super fast, a few pico seconds to load an article and it never runs out of batteries (almost : can be used for 90 hours with 2 AAAs)

Note that the updates can be made for free with an internet connection and a micro sd reader.

Re: Would You Pay $99 for Wikipedia in Your Pocket?

fat burning furnace review — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:26:53 -0000

This is very cool, I think i will try this.

Re: Would You Pay $99 for Wikipedia in Your Pocket?

Mark — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:51:54 -0000

Yet another thing you're supposed to lug around with you? It's just a bad execution. It looks like some kind of retro-futurist device. Unless it had a full color multi touch screen like the iPhone or iPod Touch, it's already outdated technology (kind of like the Kindle - oops)

Re: Would You Pay $99 for Wikipedia in Your Pocket?

Cody Gibbs — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:22:50 -0000

All you hating on it, you're not the target market. A sticker on it that says "the world's information in your pocket" strategically placed at a Barnes and Noble might garner quite a few moms and grandmas buying it for their kids this Christmas. You also forget that most of the world doesn't have internet on their phones.

Re: Would You Pay $99 for Wikipedia in Your Pocket?

aeroraptor — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:34:55 -0000

Sure, I'd buy it, and I might even. I seem to be one of the few people here who doesn't have an iPhone or web-capable phone, and I could find uses for it other than writing papers or doing reports for school. I rather enjoy reading to kill time - I already have portable wikipedia on my netbook, which is great but sort of a hassle to use. Hell I'd probably use the wikireader more than my iPod.

Re: Would You Pay $99 for Wikipedia in Your Pocket?

Vinicius — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:01:56 -0000

No and its ugly!

Re: Would You Pay $99 for Wikipedia in Your Pocket?

Elias Giertz — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:49:42 -0000

I'd use my iPhone.

Re: Would You Pay $99 for Wikipedia in Your Pocket?

Name — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:39:59 -0000

you can get a smart phone, for not much more (G1 on tmobile for 150ish) why would you buy this?

Re: Would You Pay $99 for Wikipedia in Your Pocket?

teo — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:37:55 -0000

buy an ipod touch 8GB, download wiki app... I'm done

Re: Would You Pay $99 for Wikipedia in Your Pocket?

gubatron — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 09:53:54 -0000

Hell to the no. It's so inconvenient, yet another thing in your pocket. Just go to wikipedia on your phone browser, duh.

Gotta imagine the people that got together and thought this would actually sell... for $99!!!

But hey, they might make a few bucks, there's one born every minute.

I suppose we're not the market for it, I think I saw an opportunity for it when I went to the site and saw a picture of a kid doing homework. But still, $99 is a little too much. Maybe $29.99 for your 10 year old in elementary school

Re: Would You Pay $99 for Wikipedia in Your Pocket?

abby — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 06:55:41 -0000

Same here.. Paying up for Wikipedia content? No way!

Re: Would You Pay $99 for Wikipedia in Your Pocket?

Daina Thomas — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 06:46:41 -0000

$99 for wiki on iphone .. NO .. even I m serious.. I mean this is just not acceptable .. $99 for wiki .. I would use it on my PC rather then using it on iphone..

Best,
Daina Thomas

Re: Would You Pay $99 for Wikipedia in Your Pocket?

Taran Singh — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 05:53:26 -0000

OpenMOKO wass good for where it started, there was no need to enter eReader market specially when you have strong competitions from Kindle, Sony PRS readers

Re: Would You Pay $99 for Wikipedia in Your Pocket?

Puneet — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 05:00:49 -0000

Its a stupid idea. Super fail.

Re: Would You Pay $99 for Wikipedia in Your Pocket?

cartouche d'encre — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 04:56:21 -0000

At $99 you can pick up a used GPS with more features and funtionality. I personally hate all e-reader inspired gadgets. They will never bridge the gap between smart phones, laptops, and tablets. E-Readers/Ink = Epic-market failure...

Re: Would You Pay $99 for Wikipedia in Your Pocket?

felipe09 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 03:23:37 -0000

If that was launched back in the 90's I could see that becoming a hit but nowadays, only one function, running on AAA bateries is so 90's to me.

Re: Would You Pay $99 for Wikipedia in Your Pocket?

Yiting Shen — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 03:08:35 -0000

It's a good concept but the product is a bit young, i.e. no graphics, grey background. I'd pay $20 for this version, probably more suitable for emerging mkts where internet is not readily available yet. There seems to be an iphone app launched in '08...

Re: Would You Pay $99 for Wikipedia in Your Pocket?

kevinupstairs — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:09:44 -0000

No school I know of allows you to use wikipedia as reference material. This is a poorly concieved doodad.

Re: Would You Pay $99 for Wikipedia in Your Pocket?

Salil — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:50:12 -0000

I have a slightly different question here: When practically EVERYONE seems to have rubbished the product, and when it's shortcomings are SO obvious, why would anyone greenlight this project? Why did they think this will work? Either there's some real deep insight which we all are overlooking, or there's some massive management disaster that went shockingly unnoticed.

What really happened here?

Re: Would You Pay $99 for Wikipedia in Your Pocket?

Jeet — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:49:39 -0000

Will it have "DON'T PANIC" written on cover? I might be tempted to buy it ;-)

Re: Would You Pay $99 for Wikipedia in Your Pocket?

Pranay Manocha — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:47:18 -0000

Absolutely! Fantastic idea and good price. Probably irrelevant for western countries (iphone, mobile web) - but imagine its usefulness in low bandwidth countries or in regions where mobile access is patchy!

Think Africa, India, China, even Afghanistan, Iraq, there's a huge market out there. This can be a very simple, but unique change agent.

And for $99 its probably more value than the MIT laptop for every child campaign, which if I remember correctly couldn't get costs below $200?

Seriously good.

Re: Would You Pay $99 for Wikipedia in Your Pocket?

imglab — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:04:58 -0000

YES. Only if there are large friendly letter 'Don't Panic' printed on its back.

Re: Would You Pay $99 for Wikipedia in Your Pocket?

imglab — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:03:53 -0000

YES. Only if there are large friendly printed letter 'Don't Panic' on its back cover.

Re: Would You Pay $99 for Wikipedia in Your Pocket?

Tyson Quick — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:02:02 -0000

MASSIVE EPIC FAIL!!!! iPhone

Re: Would You Pay $99 for Wikipedia in Your Pocket?

travel pillow — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:47:53 -0000

I wouldn't pay because i prefer to search at home,in my room!Out life is life,i live without "study"or easy solutions.....