iRiver, which dominated the market for “personal music players” or “MP3 Players” back in the days when we referred to portable music by technology acronyms and iPod was just a sparkle in the eyes of a few Apple folks, is reported to building a Google Android-based media player and an e-book reader. But, wait, the devices are “not yet 100 per cent signed off” yet, said iRiver product manager Danny Bejanoff in the article. The company is also developing a Web tablet and e-book reader that will be available in Australia “for testing” soon, according to Bejanoff.
Sounds like a trial balloon.
I believe the device referred to as a Web tablet is, or is related to, the P7, a $209.00 tablet-like device with 16GB of memory already offered by iRiver in the U.S. A $179.00 8GB version is also available.
Fun fact to know and tell question of the day: What company preceded iRiver with the first portable downloadable audio player? It’s not this, which was the first device designed for music playback. Enter your answers in Comments!