“Damn!” we wrote last month. “The Cool-er may die before we  learn how to pronounce its name.” We were never able to ascertain if it sounded like “Col-or“ (it had a black and white screen).  Or was it supposed to suggest that the device was cooler than, say, the Kindle. Or were we obliged to come to a full glottal stop, thus: Cool. Er. We will never know.

And now we learn from Tech Chronicles that Plastic Logic’s Que has been canceled. Sigh… We were never told how to pronounce that one, either.”Que Es Esto?” we asked when the top-secret-your-eyes-only-need-to-know name was finally released. “Esto Es Un Que!” But then someone told us it was not pronounced “kay” but rather “Cue”. Alas, today we are instructed not to bother to “queue” up to buy the Que because it will not see the light of day. Its manufacturer, Tech Blogger writes, “said it was scrapping the thin, business-focused reader because the delays and the fast-moving market have forced it to move on.”

It’s too bad, because the device’s slim flexibility made it perfect for reading newspapers and magazines. On the other hand Plastic Logic priced itself out of the market with a price tag way higher than its rivals.  It all goes to prove that you can indeed be too thin and too rich.

“This was a hard decision,” said Plastic Logic’s CEO “but is the best one for our company, our investors and our customers, We plan to take the necessary time needed to re-enter the market as we refocus, redesign and retool for our next generation ProReader product. We continue to perfect our core plastic electronic technology and manufacturing processes that are central to our product’s unique value proposition.”

Read the reasons in depth in Que ProReader is dead as Plastic Logic looks to launch new reader.

Richard Curtis