Sony unveils new e-readers

Sony unveils new e-readers

05:55 AM Sep 03, 2010

SONY, battling Amazon and Apple in the electronic book reader race, unveiled its latest devices on Wednesday and expanded their availability to Australia, China, Italy, Japan and Spain.

Sony cut the size and weight of all three of its e-readers while expanding the use of touchscreens to all models - allowing users to turn pages with a swipe of the finger like the Apple iPad.

The new Reader Touch Edition features a six-inch touchscreen and costs US$229 while the new Reader Daily Edition has a seven-inch touchscreen and WiFi or 3G connectivity and costs US$299.

The Japanese electronics giant increased the price of its cheapest e-reader, the Reader Pocket Edition, by US$29 while adding a touchscreen.

At US$179, the Reader Pocket Edition, which features a five-inch screen, is US$40 more than Amazon's cheapest Kindle e-reader and US$30 more than United States bookstore chain Barnes & Noble's device, the Nook.




The cheapest iPad costs US$499 but boasts a colour screen while the Sony Reader and the Kindle both use black-and-white e-ink technology.

Sony said it was developing applications for the iPhone and Android mobile platforms to allow users to read books from its Reader Store on those devices.

The new Reader Pocket Edition and Reader Touch Edition are available immediately while the new Reader Daily Edition will be out in time for end-of-the-year holidays. AFP

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