Sony has renewed its efforts in the electronic books business by announcing two new e-book readers and cutting prices of e-books available through its online store.
The company introduced the Reader Pocket Edition and Reader Touch Edition, which will go on sale at the end of the month for $199 and $299, respectively. Both models will replace the Sony Reader 505 and 700, which were more expensive, with retail price tags of $269 and $399.
Utilizing e-ink technology used by the older Sony e-readers and Amazon Kindle, the screen offers black and white text in a manner that is easy to read and reduces eye strain. Furthermore, the new Sony units will be able to store up to 350 books, and will have two weeks of battery life.
Sony also is cutting the price of new and best-selling books in its online store, dropping the price from $11.99 down to $9.99. Since 2007, book publishers have shown concern over the $9.99 e-book price introduced by Amazon.com with its Kindle e-reader, but consumers have long said anything above $9.99 is too much to spend.
It's nice to see Sony dropping the price of books by $2, as book printing and shipping is avoided with e-books -- allowing the cost savings to finally shift for the consumer. The overall concern of e-books cannibalizing the book industry will continue in the future, especially as e-readers from Amazon, Sony, and other companies become even more popular. It should prove to be very interesting to see how these companies work with the book publishing industry to alleviate major concerns.
I don't currently own an e-reader at the moment, but as someone who loves to read and travels quite a bit, purchasing an e-reader seems rather appealing. It's nice to see Sony lower e-book prices and release a couple of products that will be able to compete with the Amazon Kindle, which has been a hit success.
Are you on the e-book market yet? If not, why not?
