There's basically one manufacturer for all e-ink-esque screens (PVI). The consequence of that fact is that there's not a ton of room for price flexibility: ever

There's basically one manufacturer for all e-ink-esque screens (PVI). The consequence of that fact is that there's not a ton of room for price flexibility: everyone's using pretty much the same screens sold at pretty much the same price, and so there's not a ton of leeway to combine e-ink with a "cheap" device. This may change over time, as other e-ink-alike technologies come online, but it is the current state of affairs, and it's why everything is in such a narrow price band. Buying "open" e-ink reader devices isn't that hard: just about every but the kindle has .pdf compatibility, for example. There is no "open" ebook format the way .mp3s are "open": all major publishers that sell ebooks sell in drm-ed formats, and only independents and small-timers and oddballs sell legit content in unprotected .pdf. Edit: http://www.pvi.com.tw/en/index/index.php http://www.pvi.com.tw/en/index/index.php is PVI.