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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About Eric Engleman

ERIC ENGLEMAN is senior technology staff writer for TechFlash and the Puget Sound Business Journal, covering online retail giant Amazon.com. Engleman tracks Amazon's increasingly complex business, spanning ecommerce, Kindle, cloud computing, and more. He's been covering technology and other industries for the Business Journal since 2003.

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