• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, August 13, 2009

Sony has suddenly become a champion of open standards, at least in the e-book market. The company says it will scrap its own proprietary technology and support the open ePub format for its Reader e-book devices.

The move is clearly a thrust at Amazon, which has gained an early lead in the e-reader race despite launching the Kindle more than a year after Sony's Reader. Sony doesn't want to see Amazon use its closed system with the Kindle to build a an unassailable position in the e-book business the way Apple has in digital music through iTunes and the iPod.

Of course the irony is that Sony is known for its long history of supporting proprietary formats going back to the Betamax video player. Everyone knows how that turned out. Naturally, Sony doesn't want the Reader to become the Betamax of the e-book world and figures embracing open standards is its best bet to counter Amazon.

The ePub format is currently supported by the Plastic Logic, which will launch a rival e-reader early next year and which recently announced partnering with Barnes & Noble as its e-book supplier. A big question is whether Apple will come down on the closed or open standard size when, as expected, it introduces a tablet computer that can serve as an e-reader.

For its part, Sony is also showing some nimbleness on pricing by dropping the price of new releases and best sellers to $9.99 to match Amazon and launching two new lower-cost models, including a pocket-sized Reader that goes for $199. Amazon's cheapest Kindle costs $100 more.

Results of a survey on the Kindle released today by JPMorgan Research show that among people who were familiar with the device but didn't plan to buy one, the top reason cited was its high price, with 75% including it as one of the top three drawbacks. Overall, 7% of survey participants said they either own a Kindle or plan to buy one next year.