I bought a used kindle paperwhite for £15 last month, and spent about an hour to mod it (which really wasn't all that difficult; it just involved copying files).
I'd say that's pretty cheap.
I suspect the reason why there are not more new devices for the budget pricepoint is that the market is saturated. Unlike phones, there isn't really a compelling reason to upgrade regularly. My mother has used her kindle for years at this point, and probably will use it for years to come.
> I suspect the reason why there are not more new devices for the budget pricepoint is that the market is saturated. Unlike phones, there isn't really a compelling reason to upgrade regularly. My mother has used her kindle for years at this point, and probably will use it for years to come.
I think e-ink patents are holding the ecosystem back in terms of possible designs (and trade-offs). I'm sure we'd see more and cheaper e-readers if the tech was freer.
The software still seems like the biggest let-down in terms of progress though. I've used like five different readers over the past decade, all from different manufacturers and they all have something that really annoys me. Things like one missing notch on the brightness slider, no custom software option or just poor UI button placement.