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Verizon, Best Buy Enter E-Reader Market

What do Amazon, Sony, AT&T and Sprint all have in common? They're all getting some new competition in the budding e-reader industry from iRex Technologies -- a spinoff of Royal Philips Electronics, which on Wednesday entered the U.S. market with a $399 e-reader. It's compatible with Verizon's wireless 3G network -- a first for the carrier - and will soon be sold in Best Buy stores nationwide. (Best Buy previously sold e-book devices only on its Web site and in limited tests in stores.) To date, Amazon's Kindle reader has only been available for purchase online. Of note, iRex apparently met with Barnes & Noble earlier this year about putting the bookseller's brand on its devices, but the two were unable to reach an agreement.

Read the whole story at New York Times »

1 comment about "Verizon, Best Buy Enter E-Reader Market".
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  1. Mark Sigal from The Middleband Group, September 23, 2009 at 4:31 p.m.

    This stuff is interesting, but my thesis is that whereas Kindle and iRex seem to be predicated on the construct of the book as less than the current experience (i.e., mostly text), the industry is headed for a full-blown re-boot that takes advantage of interactivity, touch/tilt, social engagement, movies, pictures, animation and sound, a topic that I expound upon in:

    Rebooting the Book (One Apple iPad Tablet at a Time)
    http://bit.ly/zOoEu

    Check it out, if interested.

    Mark

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