Associated Press
NEW YORK -- Sony Corp. plans to offer an e-book reader with the ability to wirelessly download books, injecting more competition in a small but fast-growing market by adopting a key feature of the rival Kindle from Amazon.com.
Sony's $399 Reader Daily Edition will go on sale by December, Sony executives said Tuesday at an event at the New York Public Library. The device has a 7-inch touch screen and will be able to get books, daily newspapers and other reading material over AT&T Inc.'s cellular network.
Sony has sold e-book reading devices with "electronic ink" displays in the United States since 2006, but has seen most of the attention stolen by Amazon.com Inc., which launched the Kindle with similar e-ink technology a year later. The latest version of the Kindle -- which is not controlled by touching the screen -- costs $299 and uses Sprint Nextel Corp.'s wireless network for downloads.
On Tuesday, 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.
Though Sony is following in Amazon's footsteps by adding wireless capability, its e-book strategy differs in crucial respects.
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.
Sony, on the other hand, has committed to an open e-book standard.
