Add to del.icio.us     Digg this

Aug. 27, 2009

Sony says it is planning to offer a new e-book reader with the ability to wirelessly download books, injecting more competition in a small but rapidly-growing market by adopting a new feature of the rival Kindle from Amazon.

Sony's new $399 Reader Daily Edition will go on sale in December, Sony executives said Tuesday at an event at the New York Public Library.

The new unit has a 7-inch touch screen and will be able to get books, daily newspapers and other reading material over AT&T’s cellular network. Although Sony is following in Amazon's footsteps by adding wireless capability, its e-book reader strategy differs in some important aspects.

The only copy-protected books the Kindle can display are from Amazon's store, and the only devices the store supports are the Kindle, the iPhone and the iPod Touch.

However, Sony has committed to an open e-book standard, meaning its Readers can show copy-protected books from a variety of stores, and the books can be moved to and read on a variety of devices, including cell phones.

Sony has sold e-book reading devices with "electronic ink" displays in the U.S. for the past 3 years now, but has seen most of the attention stolen by Amazon.com, which launched the Kindle with similar e-ink technology in late 2007.

The latest version of the Kindle — which isn't controlled by touching the screen — costs $299 and uses Sprint Nextel's wireless network for downloads.

On Aug. 25, Sony also began selling a "Pocket Edition" e-book reader with a 5-inch screen, for $199, and a larger $299 touch-screen model. Neither has wireless capability, so both have to be connected to a computer to acquire books.

Sony also announced Tuesday that the Readers will be able to load e-books "loaned" from local libraries. A library card will provide access to free books that expire after 21 days.

The library connection "would seem to be something Amazon would never embrace, so that could be a key differentiator," said Richard Doherty, director of research firm The Envisioneering Group.

Reader owners won't be charged a subscription fee for wireless access, said Steve Haber, head of Sony's U.S. reading division.

The alliance with AT&T helps the Dallas-based carrier further expand the use of its wireless network beyond cell phones. Like other wireless carriers, AT&T is looking for new avenues of growth now that almost every adult has a mobile phone.

Last month, AT&T announced that it would provide its wireless connection to another upcoming e-book reader from Plastic Logic Ltd., which will use the e-book store of Barnes & Noble Inc.

The bookseller will likely have to pay AT&T for the wireless access, out of money it charges for the books, similar to the way Amazon pays Sprint. Sony's multi-store strategy makes that challenging.

But Sony's new Daily Edition eBook reader will initially have wireless access only to Sony's e-book store.

Additionally, Sony said that the names of the newspapers that will be available on the new device will be announced later. The Kindle already offers 46 newspapers, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today.

Add to del.icio.us     Digg this

    This article was featured on Business 5.0 and on Tech Blog.

Source: Sony Corp.