E-Ink iPad Rival 'reMarkable' Sells More Than 1 Million Devices

[MacRumors]

E-ink tablet maker "reMarkable" has now sold more than one million devices since 2017 and raised money at a valuation of $1 billion, indicating that its unusual minimalist reading- and writing-focused tablet is growing its market share despite competition with fully-fledged tablets like the iPad (via TechCrunch).

The Norway-based startup company, which employs more than 300 people, has announced that it achieved investment from multiple international investors at its $1 billion valuation last year. The company's valuation comes after making revenues of $300 million and operating profits of $31 million in 2021. Founder and CEO Magnus Wanberg said that the company was now closing the investment as a "good indication, a signal out to the world."

The reMarkable 2 launched in 2020, priced at $299, just $30 less than Apple's ninth-generation iPad. While both devices tout their e-reading capabilities and can be used with a stylus accessory for notetaking and annotating PDFs, the reMarkable effectively only allows for reading and writing, with no other functionality. The reMarkable 2 includes features such as handwriting conversion, screen sharing, Wi-Fi connectivity, integration with cloud storage services, and more. Wanberg said:

The future of the tablet as we see it is in the direction that Apple and others are heading, a fusion of laptop and tablet forms... But our offering is a third device, a focussed space for books, drawing, and notes, where you can really avoid distractions and procrastination. That is our positioning.

With these specific purposes in mind, the reMarkable features an e-ink display that is gentler on the eyes than a display that directly emits light, a textured screen for a paper-like feel, and an ultra-slim design. The company claims that customers do not need to buy a new device for at least 10 years after purchasing a reMarkable tablet.

With an E-reader and you own and use it for quite a long time. In our business, it's not a new-model-every-year dynamic. There is no emphasis on new model ownership. We don't want to force our company to slap on some iteration for the sake of it. There is true innovation, major steps in terms of what we can offer the customer. We also think it's great from a sustainability perspective [to move away from] pushing out new hardware.

The company says that its devices bridge the gap between pen and paper, and digital devices. While the reMarkable 2 is not a like-for-like iPad rival, the company's rapid growth may indicate the emergence of a new mass market of e-ink "distraction-free" tablets dedicated to specific tasks.

Article Link: E-Ink iPad Rival 'reMarkable' Sells More Than 1 Million Devices

 

[coords]

My wife has one and absolutely loves it. It’s become an important part of her daily workflow.

 

[Spock]

Starting at $299 and needs a subscription of $7.99 a month to really be useful. I think selling a million was a fluke.

 

[progx]

Cool. Glad to see there’s room for other devices. Niches can be great places to do business, especially with how information travels.

However… a subscription service attached to it…?

 

[yaxomoxay]

My wife has one and absolutely loves it. It’s become an important part of her daily workflow.

How is the document transfer? Suppose that I someone emails me a PDF. How do I send it to the device? Once I mark it out on the device, how do I send it back ?

 

[HappyDude20]

this is the way. ​

 

[rpmurray]

Limited storage and a subscription required to make it useful. No thanks. I want to load all my content locally and not have to rent my device.

 

[TSE]

e-ink displays certainly have great advantages for tablet form factors.

 

[Kissmo1980]

How much did they spend to get that revenue?
Nobody talks about that.

There's tons of commercials they have on every darn page I navigate I see that.
Selling 1 m devices doesn't always equate with big profits.

On top of it, it's has quite some issues in terms of functionality - check reviews.

I was pondering at a certain time if I would need that but I found the iPad a better alternative once you put a paperlike type of screenprotector.
Obviously it's comparing 2 different products but they do share some things.

At the end of the day it's everyone's choice - I think they need to issue some new iteration of the device to make this compelling to me.
BTW - I love e-ink devices.- I really hope they revolutionize the industry eventually

 

[Spock]

How is the document transfer? Suppose that I someone emails me a PDF. How do I send it to the device? Once I mark it out on the device, how do I send it back ?

It syncs with Google docs, Dropbox and OneDrive... If you have the subscription. Cant even email documents in and out without the subscription.

 

[Spock]

e-ink displays certainly have great advantages for tablet form factors.

I love reading with my Kindle, hard to beat the reading experience.

 

[Ifti]

As soon as I read 'subscription' I turned away.

 

[fwmireault]

I'd love to buy one of these, as it's way nicer on the eyes than an iPad, but the reMarkable in particular is crazy expensive for what it can do

 

[TSE]

I love reading with my Kindle, hard to beat the reading experience.

Absolutely. I have a kindle I bought in 2014 that I still use every single day and gets months+ of battery life and the reading experience is unmatched.

If the technology can continue to grow in terms of other consumption qualities - like videos, gaming, etc. I can definitely see a huge market for e-ink tablets and phones. That's really going to be a breakthrough of the only "one full day" battery life of current mainstream devices.

 

[antiprotest]

Starting at $299 and needs a subscription of $7.99 a month to really be useful. I think selling a million was a fluke.

Many of the units were sold before they did the subscription bait and switch.

 

[Khurtana]

It syncs with Google docs, Dropbox and OneDrive... If you have the subscription. Cant even email documents in and out without the subscription.

Are native doc formats supported? Eg Google Docs? Or just as PDFs? Can you send and receive? (This looks like a “yes”).

 

[Robert.Walter]

A device that:
- costs 30$ less than a current iPad;
- far less than the 2011 iPad could do;
- doesn’t offer the functionality of the iCloud system.

Business model: “the missing functionality is a bonus” is nonsense.

This company depends on ignorance and or anti apple (or Android) bias.

And the monthly subscription is a signal that the basic business was unsustainable as well as some kind of cruel joke to those who already had a device and a turn off to future customers. I think it will hasten this company’s demise by alienating potential new and future replacement customers.

The sales figures and market valuation are both unsustainable.

If it were possible I would be shorting this company’s stock. I’ve never played a short but a cursory glance makes this seem like a no brained.

 

[MrWayne]

I had both the first version and the second. I really wish it had e ink with Color! It really bothered me that theres no Color at all. But The experience of the hardware and software is revolutionary! I ended up buying a oculus quest 2 vr headset ?

 

[ignatius345]

My wife has one and absolutely loves it. It’s become an important part of her daily workflow.

Same here. I bought my wife one of a couple years ago to use in her therapy practice. She'd been writing in millions of random notebooks which were all over the place. This replaced all that immediately. And now all that confidential stuff is password-protected.

She's a technophobe and I have literally never heard her ask for help or complain about anything not working -- which is a great indication that the UI is solid and the device is reliable.

 

[ignatius345]

A device that:
- costs 30$ less than a current iPad;
- far less than the 2011 iPad could do;
- doesn’t offer the functionality of the iCloud system.

Business model: “the missing functionality is a bonus” is nonsense.

This company depends on ignorance and or anti apple (or Android) bias.

The sales figures and market valuation are both unsustainable.

Haha, I think you should just stick to an iPad, but don't presume that people who buy this are "ignorant" somehow.

I don't think anyone is buying this instead of an iPad. They're buying it because they like the experience of writing on paper but want things like password protection, syncing, etc -- but also don't want the massive potential for distraction and "mission creep" that comes with using a device like an iPad that does pretty much everything under the sun. When you pick this thing up, it's for focused work like taking notes or reading/annotating PDFs. You're not going to get tempted to open Instagram, or check the news. No texts are going to pop up to break your flow. Sounds like none of this means anything to you, but if you can wrap your head around it, some people have other preferences than you do.

 

[gsurf123]

My wife has one and absolutely loves it. It’s become an important part of her daily workflow.

Humans don’t have workflows. She is not a robot. I hope your life with her is not transactional.

 

[Robert.Walter]

Haha, I think you should just stick to an iPad, but don't presume that people who buy this are "ignorant" somehow.

I don't think anyone is buying this instead of an iPad. They're buying it because they like the experience of writing on paper but want things like password protection, syncing, etc.

With all due respect to your wife, “Technophobe” is a kind of self-enforced ignorance you know.

 

[ignatius345]

With all due respect to your wife, “Technophobe” is a kind of self-enforced ignorance you know.

Nobody asked you for your opinion, my man.

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

How on earth is this possible with such a bad business model?

 

[Kid Red]

How is this an iPad rival exactly?