When I heard that Sony was announcing a wireless e-reader, I kind of shrugged my shoulders thinking not much of it. Seemed like a preemptive shot at whatever Apple had going for their September announcement anyway, so what the heck?
However, when I read a story about it in The Wall Street Journal during breakfast, I dropped my spoon because twice it pointed out that the screen on the demo unit was blank:
“The Daily Edition prototype that Sony showed off at its New York launch displayed a blank screen without any text, and the company did not make a version available for hands-on handling. In contrast, when Amazon released its newest Kindle in May, it used a working version to demonstrate features and let reporters handle prototypes.”
Three paragraphs later:
“Sony’s Daily Edition can be held vertically to display one page of a book or turned horizontally so that it shows two pages, which Mr. Haber said makes it feel “more like a real book.” The sample Daily Edition that Sony showed at a press event Tuesday had a blank screen.”
I have been reading and writing about tech for quite some time and can honestly say that I haven’t seen this kind of “smack” in print. In a blog, certainly! But in the Journal? My sense is that Geoffrey Fowler and Niraj Sheth were implying this may be vapor-ware and probably a last gasp by Sony to be relevant before Apple makes its move in September.
You can read my thoughts over at the Examiner (Sony “Unveils” Wireless e-Reader at New York Public Library).
One thing’s for sure, the e-Reader space will be an interesting one to watch in the next several months and through the holiday season.
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