December 7, 2009 ONYX BOOX readers officially came to Russia. It was then that MakCentre received the status of an exclusive distributor. This year ONYX is celebrating its decade in the domestic market. In honor of this event, we decided to remember history of ONYX.
We will tell you how ONYX products have changed, what makes the company's readers that are sold in Russia unique, and how Akunin and Lukyanenko's personalized readers appeared on the market.
Image: /Unsplash
Birth of ONYX International
In the late XNUMXs, Chinese engineer and entrepreneur Kim Dan noticed the growing interest in e-readers. This direction seemed promising to her - she decided to start developing a device that could occupy the niche of electronic readers for schoolchildren and students. She was worried that with the spread of digital gadgets in the world, the number of students with myopia has increased dramatically.
Kim Dan was convinced that e-paper-based devices would make it easier to work with textbooks and technical documentation without causing serious eye strain. So in 2008, teaming up with colleagues who had previously worked at IBM, Google and Microsoft, she ONYX International. Today, the company is responsible for the entire development cycle of devices based on E Ink technology: from design and writing software to hardware assembly.
The company's first reader, ONYX BOOX 60, was released in 2009. She immediately Red Star Design Award in the Design category. Experts noted the aesthetic appearance, convenient control wheel and durable body of the gadget. For ten years, the company has significantly expanded both its product line and geography. Today, ONYX devices are available in the US and Europe. In Germany, ONYX readers are known as BeBooks, while in Spain they are sold under the Wolder brand.
One of the first ONYX readers came to Russia. We acted as a distributor - the company "MakCentre".
ONYX in Russia - the first readers
The MakTsentr company appeared in 1991 as the official dealer of Apple Computer. For a long time we were engaged in wholesale and retail sales of "apple" electronics and its maintenance. But in 2009 we decided to discover a new direction and work with electronic readers. Our specialists began to visit technological exhibitions in search of a partner. Unfortunately, most of the presented devices were of low quality and did not seem promising.
βBut to ONYX's credit, their first model, the BOOX 60, had a good technical design, and the quality of the motherboard workmanship was high. In addition, this was the first E Ink reader with a touch screen. We were also "hooked" by the high quality of components. They have every component inspected at the acceptance stage, on the SMT line [the PCB surface mount process] and after the final assembly.β
β Evgeniy Suvorov, Head of Development Department, MakTsentr
Despite the fact that ONYX was a small company in 2009, we signed an agreement with them and began work on localization. At the end of the year, sales started in our country . Batch of devices immediately Trinity Orthodox School. Pupils use readers as textbooks, and the school management regularly updates the βparkβ of readers. In the spring of 2010, we brought to Russia a budget reader model - without touch screen and Wi-Fi module.
Six months later, both devices received improved versions with a protective frame for the display and new software. The editors of Zoom.Cnews named readers the product of the year in the Russian Federation.
Expansion of the line
After the success of the first readers, ONYX focused on expanding the product line. The company has released many models that have become pioneers in one area or another. For example, in March 2011 we released is the first device in Russia with an E Ink Pearl screen. It had an increased contrast ratio (10:1 instead of 7:1) and lower power consumption. In general, ONYX the third company in the world to produce devices with similar displays. Before it, there were Amazon and Sony, but their gadgets came to our market much later. In particular, the official sales of Kindle Amazon .
Following Hamlet in 2011, ONYX released a reader . This is the world's first e-reader with a large 9,7-inch E Ink Pearl display. Immediately after it came the BOOX M90 line. Readers had the same large screen, only touch. Various educational institutions showed interest in the devices, since the dimensions of the reader made it possible to comfortably work with PDF documents - to view formulas, pictures and graphs.
On the base we launched a joint project with the Azbuka publishing house. Its founder is Boris Baratashvili, who stood at the origins of PocketBook. As part of the initiative, the development of cryptographic protection for school electronic textbooks was carried out. It does not allow you to copy literature from the reader, eliminating the possibility of piracy. The system uses a hardware crypto module that plays the role of a digital signature. With its help, the reader connects to a remote content distribution point, where all the necessary books are stored. Thus, the portable device acts as a terminal and does not keep electronic files in its memory.
At the end of 2011, ONYX upgraded the entire lineup and built more powerful processors into readers. One of the modified readers was - She was the first in the world to receive an E Ink Pearl HD touch screen. Around the same time, the i62M Nautilus came out with multi-touch functionality. A year later, the reader saw the light β the first e-reader with built-in backlight on the Russian market. She also "Product of the Year" award. In general, the period from 2011 to 2012 became a landmark for ONYX. She managed to significantly expand the product line so that any client could choose a reader to their liking.
Transition to Android
The first ONYX readers ran the Linux operating system. But in 2013, the company made the decision to move all of its devices to Android. This approach allowed us to improve their functionality: the number of settings for text and the number of supported e-book formats have increased. The range of available applications has also expanded - readers began to support dictionaries, reference books and browsers running on a mobile operating system.
One of the key devices of this era was β the company's best-selling model with a touch screen and backlight. The set also comes with a protective case with magnets that fix the cover.
A batch of ONYX BOOX Darwin was acquired by the leadership of the Naval School. P. S. Nakhimov for students and teachers. Dmitry Feklistov, head of the institution's IT laboratory that they chose this reader model because of its ergonomics, high contrast touch screen and high battery life. Cadets feel comfortable going to class with them.
Another iconic ONYX device on Android was the model - the first reader in Russia and the second in the world with adjustable backlight color temperature. And the setting : for warm and cold light, there are 16 "saturation" bars that adjust the hue. It is believed that blue light interferes with the production of melatonin, the "sleep regulator". Therefore, when reading in the evening, it is better to choose a warmer shade so as not to upset the circadian rhythms. During the day, you can give preference to white light. Another innovation of Cleopatra 3 is the 6,8-inch E Ink Carta screen with a 14:1 contrast ratio.
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Of course, the lineup in ONYX is being developed today. So, a year ago the company released . This is the world's first reader with a monitor function. The device has a built-in HDMI port to work with a computer as a primary or secondary display. The E Ink screen is less stressful for the eyes and is suitable for those who have to look at diagrams and various documentation for a long time. By the way, last year we did devices on your blog.
Then there appeared β 10-inch reader with high resolution and contrast screen E Ink Mobius Carta. According to ONYX representatives, E Ink Mobius Carta the maximum similarity of the image with the text printed on paper.
How the reader market has changed in ten years ...
When we first started working with ONYX in 2009, the e-reader market was growing rapidly. New manufacturers appeared - many Russian companies branded the most popular reader models with their logo. The competition was very high - at some point there were more than 200 brands of readers on the Russian market. But in the early 2010s, e-readers with an LCD screen, the so-called media readers, began to gain popularity. They were cheaper than the most budgetary readers, and the demand for the latter began to fall. The nameplate companies lost interest in E Ink technology and left the market.
But manufacturers who themselves designed and assembled readers - and did not re-glue logos - and understood the needs of users, not only remained, but also occupied free niches. The number of brands represented in our market is now much less than ten years ago, but the field is still competitive. An irreconcilable struggle between Kindle and ONYX fans is going on in all thematic forums.
βIn ten years, not only the market has changed, but also the portrait of a βtypical reader buyerβ. That in 2009, that now the majority of customers are people who love and want to read in comfort. But now they have been joined by professionals who buy a reader for specific tasks - for example, to read project documentation in production. This fact contributed to the release of ONYX models with a large screen of 10,3 and 13,3 inches.
Also, over the past time, paid book buying services (MyBook and LitRes) have become much more popular, that is, a category of people has appeared who believe that it is worth paying for literature.
β Evgeny Suvorov
β¦And what ONYX offered to the Russian reader
ONYX managed to maintain its position in a highly competitive market due to the fact that for ten years the company has not changed the basic principles of the brand. ONYX engineers implement the latest screen models, backlight types and hardware platforms - even in budget devices. For example, in the younger model a backlight with adjustable color temperature is installed, although it is usually installed only in flagship readers.
The company's approach to product development also played a role. Most manufacturers of e-books and media readers work on a "complete" model. Some factories create ready-made solutions for modules with universal wiring for connecting the screen and peripherals. Another part produces the same universal cases with buttons in a certain place. ONYX is responsible for the full development cycle: everything from the motherboard to the appearance of the case is designed by the company's engineers.
Also, ONYX hears its regional distributors, taking into account their opinion and the opinion of customers. For example, in 2012 we received a lot of requests from users to add page-turning buttons to the side of the device. Our designer prepared a mockup of the new look of the reader and sent it to colleagues from ONYX. The manufacturer took these comments into account - since then, side controls have been installed on all six-inch devices. Also, based on feedback from customers, ONYX added a soft-touch coating to the case and increased the amount of internal memory to 8 GB.
Another reason why ONYX managed to gain a foothold in Russia is an individual approach. Most devices are made specifically for our market. In particular, the series , , , ΠΈ there are no direct foreign analogues. Even unique lines of devices were produced - fanbooks developed in partnership with domestic writers.
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The first such reader was , built on the basis of the ONYX Magellan model, which received the Product of the Year award in 2013. The project was supported by Grigory Chkhartishvili himself (Boris Akunin). He proposed the idea of ββa cover-case imitating a real book, and also provided works for pre-installation - these were "The Adventures of Erast Fandorin" with exclusive illustrations.
βThe Akunin Book project turned out to be successful, and on the wave of success, we released two more fanbooks - with works ΠΈ . But in 2014, the crisis broke out, and work in this direction had to be curtailed. Perhaps in the future we will resume the series - there are many other authors worthy of a personalized e-book, βsays Evgeny Suvorov.
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Devices produced exclusively for Russia also have modified software. For example, they have an application for reading text documents OReader. It is a modified version of AlReader and allows you to configure many text options: add a drop cap, adjust margins and pagination. Additionally, you can manage the content of the header, modify the tap zones and gestures. There are no such opportunities in reader models for foreign markets, since they are not in demand by the audience.
In the future - further expansion of the range
The reader market is changing much more slowly than the smartphone and tablet market. All breakthroughs and developments in this area are closely related to the development of E Ink technology, for which the American corporation of the same name is responsible. The company's monopoly position dictates slow progress in the field, but reader manufacturers still have some room for maneuver.
For example, our latest ONYX Livingstone features a flicker-free MOON Light 2 for the first time. Typically, a PWM signal is used to power the LEDs. In this case, the backlight power control process is carried out using a pulsating voltage supply. This simplifies the circuit and reduces the cost of production, but a negative effect appears - the diode flickers at a high frequency, which negatively affects vision (although the eye may not notice this). The backlight of the Livingstone model is arranged differently: a constant voltage is applied to the LEDs, and when the brightness is increased or decreased, only its level changes. As a result, the backlight does not flicker at all, but shines constantly, which reduces eye strain.
In addition to the introduction of new technologies, the functionality of readers is also growing. Our new models , built on Android 9 and got some tablet features. For example, it became possible to synchronize the library and export notes via the cloud.
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In the near future, ONYX plans to release a smartphone with an E Ink screen. The company has already offered a similar product in the past, the ONYX E45 Barcelona. He had a screen E Ink Pearl HD with a diagonal of 4,3 inches and a resolution of 480x800 pixels. But the product had a number of drawbacks - there was no support for 3G or LTE networks, as well as a camera that competitors installed. The new model will take into account and correct the mistakes of the past, and the functionality will be expanded.
Now ONYX is taking steps towards smartphones with tablets. Readers, however, remain the flagship development of the company - ONYX plans to continue working on the product line and release more interesting E Ink solutions. We at McCentre will continue to help them develop products on the domestic market.
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Source: habr.com