Sony Reader Daily Edition

SONY READER DAILY EDITION NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-SALE AT SONYSTYLE.COM

SAN DIEGO – November 18, 2009 — Delivering on its promise to give consumers a variety of choices, Sony today announced its newest addition to the Sony Reader Family — the Reader Daily Edition™ — is now available for pre-order on SonyStyle.com. The Reader Daily Edition, a highly-anticipated wireless model with 3G connectivity, will ship next month.

The Reader Daily Edition joins the Reader Pocket Edition™ and Reader Touch Edition™ to round out Sony’s complete family of digital readers. The Reader Daily Edition gives consumers wireless access to Sony’s eBookstore from most of the U.S., via a 3G mobile broadband network. Book lovers will be able to browse, purchase and download books as well as select newspapers and magazines on the go. There are no monthly fees or transaction charges for the basic wireless connectivity and users still have the option to side load personal documents or content from other compatible sites via USB. Sony will announce newspaper and magazine content providers within the next month.

The Reader Daily Edition features a responsive, menu-driven, seven-inch touch screen panel that enables quick, intuitive navigation, page turning, highlighting and note taking with the swipe of a finger or by using the included stylus pen. Users can take handwritten notes with the stylus pen or type with the virtual keyboard. All notes can be exported and printed out for easy reference. The Reader Touch Edition includes an onboard Oxford American English Dictionary that allows you to look up a word by simply tapping on it.

For more details on the Reader Daily Edition please visit sonystyle.com; Sony’s online destination for book lovers – wordsmoveme.com; or the Sony Electronics Community, which includes a corporate blog, video, photos, polls and profiles. For a list of all the Sony Electronics community sites please visit:

Key Facts:

• Sony’s new Reader Daily Edition is now on sale at SonyStyle.com.
• The Reader Daily Edition provides wireless access to Sony’s eBookstore from most of the U.S.
• Wireless access is provided by a 3G mobile broadband network.
• The Reader Daily Edition’s seven-inch wide, full touch screen display provides intuitive navigation and comfortable layout of content, including newspapers and magazines, in portrait or landscape orientation.
• In portrait mode, about 30-35 lines of text are visible, making the experience very similar to that of a printed paperback book.
• A high contrast ratio with 16 levels of grayscale ensures that text and images are crisp and easy to read.
• The Reader Daily Edition features an attractive aluminum body with an integrated protective cover.
• Easy access to the embedded dictionary with a simple double-tap on a word for its meaning.
• The Reader Daily Edition has enough internal memory to hold more than one thousand standard eBooks and expansion slots for memory cards to hold even more.
• It will sell for about $399.
• Newspaper and magazine content providers to be unveiled within the next month.

Quotes:
Steve Haber, president of Sony’s Digital Reading Business Division: “We firmly believe consumers should have choice in every aspect of their digital reading experience. With the availability of the Reader Daily Edition, we are delivering on that promise. We now have the most comprehensive family of devices on the market, the greatest access to free and affordable eBooks through The eBook Store from Sony and our affiliated ecosystem, and now round out our Reader offering with a wireless device that lets consumer purchase and download content on the go.”

• Shop at SonyStyle: www.sonystyle.com
• Sony Reader site: www.sony.com/reader
• Sony News site: www.sony.com/news
• Words Move Me site: www.wordsmoveme.com
• Tweet: Sony Reader Daily Edition goes on pre-sale; be the first to go to sonystyle.com to purchase one today #SonyReader

Sony Reader Touch Edition

Have you try lifting your child’s school bag lately? It sometimes seems to weigh a ton! It hurts my back just to carry it to the car. A Canadian high school has decided to do something about it, replacing printed textbooks with digital textbooks. Way to go!

Canadian high school is first in the world to announce the supply of Sony Readers in place of printed textbooks

Blyth Academy, Sony Canada and Pearson Canada make digital textbooks a reality

TORONTO, Nov. 17 – Embracing the benefits of electronic reading, students at Blyth Academy are today beginning the transition from using traditional printed textbooks to digital textbooks read on the Sony(R) Reader Digital Book. Blyth Academy is the first high school in the world to announce that each student will be supplied with an e-Reader in place of printed textbooks.

From history class to political science, each student will have access to all of his or her course content using leading edge digital technology from Sony and publishers like Pearson Canada. The students will use Sony Readers that are pre-loaded with course textbooks, outlines, assignments, reference materials, background reading and personal timetables.

“My Sony Reader helps me get organized,” said Michael Tyrrell, student at Blyth Academy. “I have all my textbooks and class material on it – it’s really cool. I feel like somebody just personalised school to fit me.”

Blyth Academy selected the Sony Reader Touch(TM) Edition because it’s easy to use with intuitive touch screen navigation, and its open format provides students with access to content from numerous sources.

“We’re excited about how the Sony Reader can enhance a student’s learning experience,” says Tim Algate, Reader Product Manager with Sony Canada. “We’ll be listening to these students, using their feedback to evolve our Reader offering for education.”

The school has compiled a library of digital content from textbook publishers like Pearson and other class material and literature in digital format. Blyth will give students access to digital assets for university admission, offering everything they need to chose and apply to any university.

“The digital content we’ve acquired, coupled with the students’ Sony Readers, will dramatically improve student access to textbooks, collateral material, literature and reading in general,” said Sam Blyth, Chair, Blyth Academy. “Our student survey shows that they are twice as likely to read a book available in an e-book format as in hard copy form.”

Helping lead the way in delivering digital content for education are publishers like Pearson Canada.

“Pearson Canada is taking students beyond the four corners of the printed textbook,” said Anne-Marie Scullion, Vice President of Marketing Field Services, Pearson Canada. “Our focus is on developing flexible and adaptive content to engage students in a 21st century learning environment.”

Students will also have access to more than half a million free e-books from Google through the Sony eBook store at www.ebookstore.sony.com, as well as the e-books offered by the Toronto Public Library.

About Blyth Academy
Blyth Academy is one of Canada’s largest providers of private education. It owns and operates three high school campuses in the Toronto region and operates international accredited programs in 28 countries around the world. For more information, visit www.blytheducation.com.

About the Sony Reader
The Sony Touch Edition(TM) Reader is a portable electronic reading device that can store up to 350 eBooks, and allows access to multiple file formats. Its award-winning industrial design features an E Ink(R) Vizplex(TM) electronic paper display that mimics the look of ink on paper. The Reader features a six-inch touch screen panel that enables page turning, highlighting and note taking with the swipe of a finger or by using the included stylus pen. Readers can take handwritten notes with the stylus pen or type with the virtual keyboard. It includes an integrated English Dictionary that allows you to look up a word by simply tapping on it. It also offers five adjustable font sizes, as well as media expansion slots, making your portable library virtually limitless. Visit www.sonystyle.ca/reader for more information.

About Pearson Canada School Division
Every day Pearson resources touch the lives of teachers and students in Canadian classrooms. Our research-based print and digital programs, assessment tools, and educational services are designed to help teachers make a lasting impact on learning for every student. Pearson is Canada’s leading educational publisher, developing resources for all core curriculum subjects K-12: Literacy, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and French as a Second Language. We see the diversity of Canada’s students as a strength and are committed to developing a full array of core curriculum, supplementary, assessment, professional, and early learning resources to help students of all ages learn at learn at their own pace, and in their own ways. Visit www.pearsoncanada.ca/school for more information.

• Sony Touch Edition Reader QuickPrice Check
• Sony Touch Edition Reader Specifications
• Sony Touch Edition Reader Press Release

Apple iPhone

Rumors, rumors, rumors. Will the new iPhone do Video, à-la Kodak ZX1, the pocket HD video camcorder that is getting rave reviews for top fun factor? Just imagine if it did. Other rumors say that it is the new iPod Touch that will get the 5M video capability to re-invigorate sagging sales. And then there is the iTablet rumor which is probably giving Sony Reader Digital Book and Amazon Kindle designers sleepless nights.

Related links:

- Photo.Blorge
- Computerworld
- Gizmodo
- InformationWeek
- Appleinsider