CNET has a 3-minute video that bills itself as a “Buyer’s Guide” for tablets and e-readers, though it primarily focuses on tablets, and mostly the more expensive tablets—the iPad, the Galaxy S, and Sony’s Android tablet (which I hadn’t heard of before). It paints this trio of $499 tablets as the main attraction for buyers this holiday season, then spends a little time discussing the Amazon Kindle and Kindle Fire as alternatives. In the video, CNET’s Donald Bell refers to the Kindle Fire as a “good enough product”—essentially a device that will work well as an e-reader and...

Yesterday, perhaps hoping to stage a preemptive strike on Amazon, Barnes & Noble announced a new cooperative venture with self-publisher Lulu.com, which is supposed to make it easier for Lulu customers to get their books published as Nook e-books. However, given that B&N was already partnering with Lulu on self-publishing e-books, it is entirely unclear how it was harder before and how it will be easier now. And this bright bundle of glittering generalities does not seem to have helped in the end. Barnes & Noble’s stock was down by as much as 13% after Amazon’s Kindle announcement today,...

For those who favor the Sony Reader, Engadget reports that the latest version, with wi-fi and a Pearl e-ink touchscreen, has just become available for pre-order for $149.99 from Sony’s website. The device will ship sometime around October 16th. I have my doubts that Sony is going to have staying power in the e-reader biz for much longer, but perhaps it will surprise me. At any rate, if you have a thing for the Sony Reader, have a blast....

More details are coming out about Sony’s latest entry into the e-reader market, the T1. At 168g (5.9 oz), the device is touted as the lightest e-reader ever, with a 6” touchscreen display, stylus, and built-in wi-fi access. The wi-fi will allow purchases from Sony’s on-line bookstore, and also borrowing e-books wirelessly from libraries that support it. The US cost of the device will be $149. Available in red, white, and black colors, the black version (but not the other two) will include a coupon for a free download of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone “while supplies last”....

Seemingly relegated to the also-ran position by Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, and possibly even Kobo, Sony is still not giving up the e-reader fight just yet. Engadget reports on finding a new wi-fi-equipped Sony PRS-T1 e-reader for sale on a Dutch webpage. The device hews to the standard black, angular Sony style, and Engadget speculates that it might be Android-powered just based on what its control buttons look like. The device costs €165 (equivalent to $240 US) on that website, and will probably be a bit cheaper when and if it’s introduced here—but can it be cheap...

Nate Hoffelder at The Digital Reader has been tracking signs of new ereader activity coming from Sony, and despite the company disavowing its own executive's slip-up it looks like a new device is on the way. The first clue is that a device called the PRS-T1 Digital Book Reader was found last week on the FCC website. The second clue is that several ebook models are showing up as out of stock or discontinued on the Sony Style store. Via The Digital Reader ...

The Wall Street Journal has covered Amazon’s much-rumored plans for a tablet, with a long and thoughtful article considering how such a device might affect the sales of Amazon’s Kindle, and what Amazon’s competitors in the e-book and digital media marketplaces are doing. The piece has some interesting information from anonymous inside sources about what features the tablet will offer: Amazon's tablet will have a roughly nine-inch screen and will run on Google's Android platform, said people familiar with the device. Unlike the iPad, it won't have a camera, one of these people said. While...

Just a few days ago, Sony executive Phil Lubell told Bloomberg that the company has two new ereader devices launching "probably" in August. Now the company appears to be backtracking on that statement, according to a response it sent to VentureBeat today. VentureBeat's article, published yesterday, looked at Sony's poor performance in the ereader wars compared to Amazon and Barnes & Noble, despite having a head start. There's not a lot of new information for the Teleread audience. However, Sony took issue with the article and responded with this: It is true that Sony is committed to the Reader category and believes...

Although Sony has long offered some nicely designed, feature-packed E Ink readers, the company has trailed Amazon and Barnes & Noble for a while now in both sales and media coverage, and this week is no exception. Yesterday, while Amazon sucked up all the media attention, Sony Electronic's vice president of digital reading Phil Lubell told Bloomberg that his company plans to introduce two new Sony Reader models "probably" in August, and is currently working on two tablet devices for release later in 2011. The article doesn't provide much info in the way of hardware specs, but it looks like prices...

Update: Macworld just posted that an unnamed Apple source says Apple is currently working with developers to bring their apps in line with the new guidelines, and that we can expect to see modified app updates appearing in the coming days or weeks. [Original post follows.] Despite all the threats, blog outrage, and speculation around Apple's new rules for content apps over the past several months, as of this morning the three major ebooksellers' apps already available on Apple's App Store—Kindle, Nook, and Kobo—remain unchanged and available for download. (Sony never got a chance to play.) Kindle and Nook both offer a...

In an update to the story I posted earlier today about Apple rejecting Sony's Reader app, Ars Technica has now heard a response from Apple, and it comes with some pretty dire implications for other e-book apps. It seems that Apple is no longer going to be content to allow apps to access content purchased elsewhere unless it comes with an identical option to purchase the content from within the app as well. The rub here is, of course, that Apple takes a 30% cut of any purchases made within the app itself. And since agency pricing (which Apple...

Remember my concern that Apple’s new rules for in-app purchases might imperil e-book reader apps other than its own iBooks? It looks like the process may be beginning. Sony has been trying to bring a Sony Reader e-book app to the iPhone (only arriving about three years late to the party—seriously, why did they wait this long?), but Apple has told them nothing doing. Sony writes on its e-book store site: Unfortunately, with little notice, Apple changed the way it enforces its rules and this will prevent the current version of the Reader™ for iPhone® from being available in the app...