Sony to offer new $199 e-reader, putting price pressure on Kindle |
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Sony to offer new $199 e-reader, putting price pressure on Kindle
Is the electronic reader market headed for a price war? Sony -- which represents the main competition for Amazon's Kindle -- is reportedly planning to unveil two new e-readers, priced at $199 and $299. Amazon recently reduced the price of its Kindle 2 reader to $299, though its larger-screen Kindle DX still retails for a whopping $489.
The new Sony readers, called PRS-300 and PRS-600, are expected to go on sale later this month at retail chains including Best Buy and Wal-Mart, the Wall Street Journal reports. It will be interesting to see if the new readers -- particularly the $199 device -- take any market share away from Kindle. Forrester Research recently questioned whether Amazon can hold onto its early lead in the e-reader market, particularly if it sticks with the online-only sales model.
Interestingly, Amazon's pricing model for Kindle books -- $9.99 for new releases and best-sellers -- appears to be the standard now. The Journal says Sony is planning to slash the cost of its best-selling e-book titles to $9.99 from $11.99. Barnes & Noble, the other big player in e-books, moved to the $9.99 model last month.
Sony recently took steps to bolster its list of available e-book titles, by adding more free public domain books from Google's massive book-scanning project.
Update: Sony just confirmed the details of its new e-reader offerings in a press release.
A Sony spokeswoman writes in an email:
Part of a new Reader line, the Reader Pocket Edition is priced at $199, the lowest price point of any digital reader to-date. Both the Reader Pocket Edition and the Reader Touch Edition -- a $299 device with a six-inch touch screen panel -- will be available at the end of August, at SonyStyle.com, SonyStyle stores and select retail partners, such as Best Buy, Borders and Walmart.
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