While some might think that the rise of the Tablet PC has put an end to the demand for eReaders, there is still clearly a market for them, as long as they offer a little more than they used to or cost less than a tablet.
Once the big whig of the digital eReaders, Sony has faded a bit, and many people fell they have actually been surpassed by both Amazon and Barnes and Noble when it comes to the Kindle and the Nook. In fact, many people thought that Sony had been virtually defeated when it came to the eReader business and instead were focusing more on new tablets, with the expected launch of the S1 and S2.
However, while some industry experts were convinced that Sony was moving away from the eReader business it appears that the company is still very much interested in competing. Today reports began to surface that in fact, Sony is getting set to launch a couple of brand new eReaders as early as next month.
According to Sony, there will be two different models released in August and these models will cost between $180 and $300. Also according to the company, these eReaders will actually be launched ahead of the S1 and S2 tablets. While there are very few details being made available as to what the new eReaders will have, the company says there will be new software updates and they will have WiFi built into both models. Two noteworthy things here are that there is no mention of any kind of 3G connectivity, which means they will already be one step behind the Nooks and Kindles that do offer connectivity no matter whether you are connected to a wireless lan.
While Sony is now saying that they will continue to sell eReaders because they are cheaper to make than tablets, there has to be some questioning what kind of new features would get people to shell out $300 for a Sony eReader when they can throw that kind of money towards an actual tablet computer or the more well known and trusted eReaders from Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
