Sony of Canada Ltd. has turned a new page with the Canadian launch of its just released next-generation electronic readers.
Sony introduced its Reader Pocket Edition and Reader Touch Edition to publishers, bloggers and journalists during launch events in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto last week.
The new models have more features, at a lower price than the company’s two other e-reader models which have been available in Canada for two years, said Sony’s Reader product manager, Tim Algate.
The Reader Pocket Edition sells for $259.99 and the Reader Touch Edition sells for $399.99 and are for sale in Sony Style store as well as at SonyStyle.ca, and online at Staples.ca, FutureShop.ca and BestBuy.ca.
Sony is expanding its distribution channels to include in-store sales at Future Shop and Best Buy next month, said Algate.
“It will be much more accessible to more Canadians which is our ultimate objective,” he said. “For this type of product you really need to touch, feel and play with it to appreciate it and understand it.”
Sony Corp. launched the wireless electronic reader in the U.S. on Tuesday in a move to challenge Amazon.com Inc.’s momentum in the growing digital book market.
Wireless functionality will be available with some U.S. models, but not in Canada. “It’s more of a pressing issue in the U.S. because the Kindle DX model from Amazon is a wireless model, and they do have that immediate need for it,” he said. (Amazon still does not sell its Kindle readers in Canada.)
Sony also announced a partnership with Archambault, a Quebecor Media company, during the launch event in Montreal.
The music, DVD and book retailer has launched Jelis.ca, which offers more than 20,000 French e-book titles in its catalog, with plans to offer more than 50,000 titles by the end of the year. Archambault is also selling the devices.
French-language titles are currently unavailable at Sony’s eBook Store, which is run out of the U.S., said Algate.
The previous generation of e-readers was not available in Quebec due to provincial laws and regulations set by the OQLF (Quebec Office of the French language), said Algate.
“The packaging wasn’t French, the user interface wasn’t French, now all those things are included on the latest generation models,” he explained.
For the next two weeks, Sony is supporting the online product launch with pop-up ads on TheStar.com. The day of the launch, Sony had homepage presence on Yahoo.ca with an ad that received over 10 million impressions, said Algate.
Sony will conduct samplings with key influencers like publishers, bloggers and journalists. Sony is also set to showcase the e-readers at the Word on the Street Festival literary event in Toronto and Vancouver next month.
Best Buy and Future Shop will support the in-store launch through its flyers come September, said Algate. In addition, the company will position the devices as the hot gift ideas for Christmas through an integrated campaign.
Sony has also adjusted prices of some of the e-books available through its online eBook Store. New releases and titles from the New York Times Best-Sellers List will now sell for US$9.99.
Sony’s eBook Store includes more than 100,000 books, as well as one million free public-domain books available from Google Inc. through its Google Books project.
