Sony plans to launch e-reader in Japan by end of 2010

By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 27 May 2010, 22:48 IST   |    1 Comments
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Sony plans to launch e-reader in Japan by end of 2010
Tokyo: Sony spoiled Apple's iPad release party in Japan by making an announcement of the launch of its e-reader in the country. It plans to do so by the end of the year, along with launching of an e-book content distribution service. With this step, Sony wants to expand its presence in the promising electronic book market. The introduction of the iPad in Japan's hitherto sizeable e-book market is predicted to improve the current status. It is projected that in the next four years the content market will increase two fold to $967 million. Sony will put up its planning company on July 1for the content distribution service and will hold 25 percent of the firm. KDDI Corp, Toppan Printing Co, and the Asahi Shimbun newspaper will also each hold 25 percent. Comics, magazines, newspapers, online books will be offered by the news service, said Sony. Although Sony is active in the U.S. market, with its e-reader competing with Amazon.com's Kindle, Barnes & Noble's Nook, and Apple's iPad, back home, it is not selling the device presently. Sony's earlier endeavor in the e-reader market was when it launched reading devices. However, they were pulled back from the shelves, a few years later, owing to lack of content.