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By David Rothman

OK, gang, do your Sonyology act, and try to guess what Sony may actually be doing in the e-book area—a timely topic, even without an enticing rumor wafting around.

The following has just appeared in MobileRead from Kindle 2 owner named forkyfork—who insists his source was “very confident”:

Pardon me if this is known information, but I thought I would pass it along.

While talking with the manager at Books-a-Million, he told me that Sony is coming out with a new ereader in August. He mentioned that it’s going to have wifi, bigger screen, and more memory. When I asked him if it would have a touchscreen, he said "no". When asked what the price point would be, he said "most likely $300", which might explain why they are trying to clear out the PRS-505′s now.

Does anyone know any more about this? I thought these were all rumors at this point. If that’s the case, I may wait on buying the older sony reader.

All kinds of issues arise here. As some have pointed out, would a bookstore manager be privy to such insidery information? Still, Amazon has such momentum in the content area—in the sheer number of modern, copyrighted titles—that Sony badly needs a catch-up strategy. Could this be it—to match the Kindle’s price and offer a bigger screen in the bargain? And is there any connection between this and the current lack of availability of the Sony PRS-700 in some places?

Meanwhile, just as a formality—I’ll keep my expectations down—I’ll contact Sony PR.

Update, 5:41 p.m.: From a Sony spokesperson: “Sorry, David. Nothing to report. I’ll keep you posted, though.” Hmm. Nothing existing to report, or nothing that she’s allowed to report? Whatever the case, we’ll report it if/when it happens.

 
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