Hyread is one of the largest e-reader retailers in Taiwan and has an extensive online bookstore. The company might be getting out of selling colour e-readers. They have confirmed with Good e-Reader that the Gaze One SC is now discontinued; this unit has only been on the market for less than a year. One of the big selling points was the support of English, which was very relevant for overseas customers. The company only has one colour device, the Gaze Note Plus CC, an e-notebook.
Hyread will focus only on black-and-white e-readers in the foreseeable future. Their portfolio has four units, spanning from 6-inch models to 10.3, so they cover all bases. Getting out of colour e-readers using Kaleido e-paper is likely a good move since it adds to the overall cost. The Gaze One, with a black and white e-paper screen, retails for $163, while the colour model is $249.99, which is quite the price jump. I suppose Hyread’s average customer wants an affordable e-reader with a bookstore to buy books, manga and magazines.
One of Hyreads’ largest competitors is Kobo. Rakuten Kobo entered the market in early 2023 and started to sell e-readers domestically through several physical retailers and also online. Kobo currently has over 200,000 digital books in Chinese. A couple of weeks ago, Kobo introduced Kobo Plus, which has three distinct subscription plans tailored to suit various reading preferences. Dubbed “Reading,” “Listening,” and “Listening and Reading,” each plan caters to a unique experience. The “Reading” plan, priced at NT$199 per month, grants access to a treasure trove of over 1.5 million Chinese and foreign e-books, ensuring readers can immerse themselves in captivating stories wherever they go.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.