Hooray! Someone does care about the e-reading community and that someone is Sony.
In a statement released on Aug. 13, the consumer electronics maker is pledging to support a standard e-book software format, which means e-reader device users may not be completely locked into buying books from one specific vendor.
For example right now Amazon Kindle users can only buy books from the e-commerce giant’s e-book offerings. The Sony approach will let Sony e-reader users buy e-books from other e-book sellers using the industry-standard EPUB format. Sony’s in the midst of converting its own e-reader libraries to the format right now.
“Our intention is to lead by example,” said Steve Haber, president of Sony’s digital reading business division. “Our readers have long supported industry-standard formats such as EPUB and PDF. Now, what is quickly becoming the de facto standard for eBooks will be available in our store.”
The EPUB format is the International Digital Publishing Forum’s (IDPF) XML-based standard format for reflowable digital books and publications.
Sony’s move is obviously also in its best interest, given the e-reader device race that’s heating up between itself, Amazon and Barnes & Noble, which recently announced it will debut its own e-reader device early next year.
Sony, which offers several reader models, put two more on the shelves last month boasting lower price tags than competitor Amazon. The Kindle retails for about $299. Sony’s new Reader Pocket Edition is $199, and the Reader Touch Edition is about $299. Those two devices will support the standard format and Sony plans to provide an update software path for earlier model users.
With all this competition — and factoring in rumors of an Apple tablet — consumers may soon have a lot of options when it comes to e-readers.