txtr

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The txtr GmbH was a German company with headquarters in Berlin , the e-book sales, offering a reading application for different mobile devices and originally wanted to bring an online platform and a private reading device on the market. The managing directors were Christophe Maire and Andreas Steinhauser. The company was founded in 2008 as Wizpac Ltd. In January 2015 the company filed for bankruptcy and the company was to be taken over by Media-Saturn-Holding .

E-book sales

Several thousand e-books in EPUB format were available in the online shop at txtr.com . To this end, txtr had concluded distribution agreements with, among others, Droemer Knaur , S. Fischer Verlag , Kiepenheuer & Witsch , Rowohlt Verlag , Berlin Verlag , and Libreka . In addition, a lot of free content from Project Gutenberg , MobileRead, Munsey's and Manualsmania was available on txtr.com.

txtr offered free applications for iPhone , iPad , Windows 8 and the Android platform that were also able to display DRM -protected EPUB books that were not purchased from txtr.

Advertised readers

txtr reader

The txtr reader was an announced, but never delivered, electronic book reader ( e-book reader) from txtr GmbH. It was presented as a prototype at the CeBIT 2009 computer fair and received a lot of media coverage. According to the manufacturer, the device with a 6 inch E-Ink screen should support a wide range of communication standards such as WLAN , Bluetooth and EDGE / GPRS . a. can also exchange texts with each other. In addition to a micro- USB port were slots for a SIM card and a microSD - Flash memory card provided. Subscriptions to journals, magazines and daily newspapers, as well as broad support of document formats ( EPUB , HTML , Office and PDF , partly by means of a conversion service) were touted.

Postponements of the delivery date

txtr had originally announced the market launch of its txtr reader for the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2009, but at the press conference during the fair on October 14, 2009, advance sales started on December 1, 2009 and delivery started on December 15. The price quoted was 319 euros.

One day before the start of the official presale, txtr announced that the txtr reader would only cost 299 euros, but that it would not contain a WLAN function. This hardware change was necessary in order to lower the price, but would not lead to any significant delivery delay. In an interview in February 2010, company co-founder Christophe Maire instead stated that problems with the development of the WLAN drivers were the main reason. With the start of the advance booking, the website changed: Instead of registering as an "interested party", you could "pre-order" - but this pre-order was not yet binding. According to its own information, txtr wanted to gradually send links to a legally valid order to registered interested parties and pre-orderers. So far (as of May 2011) there have been no reports from users who have received such an email.

In mid-December 2009 txtr announced that due to problems with a component that is important for the power supply, only "a few readers" could be delivered by Christmas. An entry in the company blog from January 2010, however, mentioned problems with the switch from small to large series production; In particular, changed production machines and inadequately trained factory workers were named as causes which would have led to high reject rates, especially when soldering the modem module. In an interview from February 2010, txtr CTO Andreas Steinhauser blamed problems with modem hardware and software for the delay.

In March 2010 txtr announced that the reader should probably be introduced in Hungary in summer 2010. A month later, txtr co-founder Joscha Bach stated that he was expecting the product launch in the course of 2010. However, the device did not hit the market.

Cooperation with PocketBook

In October 2010 it became known that txtr GmbH wanted to cooperate with PocketBook in order to bring versions of PocketBook devices adapted to the txtr online store onto the market. The device did not come on the market.

txtr Beagle

In October 2012, txtr announced the txtr Beagle, a reader for ten euros that could display pre-rendered e-books as image files from a smartphone. Its 4 GB could hold up to five books. According to the original concept, the Beagle should not be available individually, but only as an additional option when concluding a mobile phone contract with corresponding ongoing monthly costs; the low price should therefore come about through subsidies from the mobile phone companies. Presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2012, the device was originally supposed to reach retailers before Christmas this year. Later, however, “Spring 2013” ​​was considered as the start date instead.

In March 2013, the American online mail order company “Shop e-Readers” announced that it was now accepting pre-orders for the txtr Beagle. Instead of the originally announced 10 euros, the purchase price was $ 69.99 (which was around 53.80 euros at the time of the offer), although a voucher for the txtr eBook store worth $ 10 was also included. A few days later, txtr announced that it wanted to bring the Beagle onto the market at full price in Germany as well, but would also continue to pursue the original plan of a subsidy by mobile phone companies. At the beginning of July 2013, txtr reduced the unsubsidized sales price to EUR 19.99, after which the reader was sold out within a few days. The Beagle has not been available in stores since then.

Online platform

The company originally also offered a complex online platform on which users could collect digital content and share it with other users. The txtr reader should be able to access this content directly via the cellular modem. This platform has since been taken offline.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ txtr.com: http://txtr.com/imprint/ ( Memento from April 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Imprint
  2. ↑ blog.txtr.com: txtr is now called txtr (Wizpac is gone) ( Memento from July 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ heise.de - E-Books and Reader: Txtr has filed for bankruptcy . Article dated January 29, 2015, accessed January 30, 2015.
  4. ↑ heise.de - E-Books: Media-Saturn takes over Txtr . Article dated April 7, 2015, accessed April 7, 2015.
  5. ↑ txtrblog.de: txtr cooperates with publishers of the Holtzbrinck Group ( Memento from May 1, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ blog.txtr.com: More choice: Berlin Verlag at txtr ( Memento from January 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ blog.txtr.com: Announcing txtr content partners and reader release date (beginning of the original article ) ( Memento of the original from January 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.areastartups.com
  8. ↑ blog.txtr.com: The new txtr iPhone application is out ... ( Memento from May 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ↑ blog.txtr.com: Page no longer available , search in web archives: “txtr-Pad”: txtr brings more literature to the iPad@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / blog.txtr.com
  10. ↑ blog.txtr.com: txtr now also on Android ( Memento from October 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ^ Spiegel.de: German company develops its own e-book reader
  12. ↑ focus.de: E-book reader from Germany
  13. ↑ heise online: e-book reader with social community
  14. ↑ golem.de: e-book reader txtr will be available in October 2009
  15. ↑ NewGadgets.de: Live from the txtr press conference / Frankfurter Buchmesse 2009
  16. ↑ read.net: txtr Reader: 319 euros, “before Christmas”
  17. ↑ blog.txtr.com: Page no longer available , search in web archives: Few readers under the tree@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / blog.txtr.com
  18. ↑ blog.txtr.com: Series production with difficulties ( Memento from January 21, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  19. ↑ txtrblog.de: On production problems and photonic displays: Interview with Andreas Steinhauser (CTO at txtr) ( Memento from March 1, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  20. ↑ txtrblog.de: txtr soon also in Hungary ( Memento from March 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  21. ↑ pressetext.com: "Market for e-readers does not yet exist" ( Memento of the original from April 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.pressetext.com
  22. ↑ txtr: Cooperation with PocketBook, future of the txtr reader uncertain | heise mobile. In: heise.de. October 7, 2010, accessed November 17, 2012 .
  23. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / de.txtr.com
  24. ↑ Michael Grothaus: Txtr beagle e-reader - review | Technology. In: The Guardian . guardian.co.uk, November 8, 2012, accessed November 10, 2012 .
  25. ↑ Hilmar Schmundt: E-Books: Txtr promises the 10-euro reader. In: spiegel.de. October 10, 2012, accessed November 17, 2012 .
  26. ↑ Konrad Lischka: Which e-reader suits me? In: spiegel.de. November 16, 2012, accessed November 16, 2012 .
  27. ↑ The txtr Beagle Now Available at Shop e-Readers. In: goodereader.com. March 4, 2013, accessed March 7, 2013 .
  28. ↑ txtr Beagle soon in Germany - at full price. In : lesen.net. March 11, 2013, accessed March 11, 2013 .
  29. ↑ txtr Beagle reduced to 20 euros. In : lesen.net. July 9, 2013, accessed July 9, 2013 .