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 .
Sony’s $399 Reader Daily Edition will go on sale by December, Sony executives said Tuesday at the New York Public Library. The device has a 7-inch touch screen and will be able to get books, 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 . Inc., which launched the Kindle with similar technology a year later.
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 must 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, meaning its Readers can show copy-protected books from a variety of stores, and the books can be moved to and read on a variety of devices, including cellphones. Sony also announced Tuesday that the Readers will be able to load e-books “loaned” from local libraries. A library card will provide access to free books that expire after 21 days. Peter Svensson The Associated Press
