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Sony plans $199 U.S. e-reader, takes on Amazon
Sony's Pocket Reader is seen in an undated handout photo.
Credit: Reuters/Sony/Handout
LOS ANGELES |
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sony Corp will begin selling this month the cheapest digital book reader for the United States, taking rival Amazon.com Inc head-on in the small but fast-growing market for electronic readers.
Sony plans to start selling its 5-inch-screen Pocket Reader at $199 -- which it called a breakthrough price -- and a larger touchscreen reader for $299, through nationwide retail outlets such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy.
To drive initial demand, the company plans also to reduce the price it charges for downloads of best-sellers and new releases to $9.99 from $11.99, putting prices in line with Amazon.com's.
"Achieving the $199 price point, we believe, expands the market dramatically," Steve Haber, president of Sony's Digital Reading division, told Reuters.
People who had been hesitant about the price of a digital reader may now jump in, he added.
Haber expects the market for e-readers to exceed 2 million units this year in the United States.
(Reporting by Laura Isensee; writing by Edwin Chan)
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