Sony all set to sizzle market with new e-book readers

Termed as “the flame that lit the wildfire”, by Forrester Research, Amazon’s Kindle has been a hit with the audience ever since it was launched.

But now Sony wants to take that position and will come up with two new cheap, classy and pocket-sized e-book readers that could get the people hooked onto them.

Price and features
The latest Sony Reader Pocket Edition has been priced at $199 and the Reader Touch Edition stands at $299. Both these products will hit the markets on August 25.

Sony will try to capture the e-book reader market by keeping the price of Pocket Edition at $100 less than Amazon’s Kindle 2. However, the Touch Edition will give the benefit of touch technology and will allow readers to swipe their finger across the screen to turn pages.

The Pocket Edition device is available in three different colors: red, blue, and silver, and has a five inch screen. On the other hand, the Touch Edition has a six inch screen and will come in red, black, and silver. It will have the special feature of allowing the user to access dictionary. Moreover, notes can be scribbled by using fingers.

The company’s online book store and the new devices will be compatible with Apple’s (NYSE:AAPL) Macintosh computers.

Varied options in content
Sony will offer a price of $9.99 for new releases as well as best sellers. Not only this, the users will be provided with an option of downloading free content from its link to Google’s catalog that has a huge collection of 1 million books.

Steve Haber, president of Sony’s Digital Reader Business Div, said, “Our goal is to expand the market and provide greater access to what consumers want to read, when they want to read it, whether they buy, borrow, or get it for free.”

An intense marketing campaign to demonstrate the features of each product will be launched soon after the reader comes in the market.

Sony to come up with worldwide wireless
Sony is also planning to come up with its own wireless device that would allow consumers to download content wirelessly anywhere across the globe.

Sony is aiming to strengthen its presence in the retail market by selling the devices, cases, and other accessories online, at Best Buy (BBY), Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), Target (TGT), Costco (COST), and many other retailers.

E-reader market to expand further
According to Sony, Americans will buy two million electronic readers this year. The consumer today is more aware about the technology available and therefore the conventional bookstores need to revamp their distribution models.

But the market competition is going to be stiffer as Samsung recently showcased its own electronic reader in South Korea and revealed its plans of expansion. Also, book retailing giant Barnes & Noble (BKS) is going to enter into a partnership with a hardware maker Plastic Logic to come up with a device early next year.