Embargoed until 24th July 2008
Get Your Hands on the new Reader from Sony
An ideal travel companion with capacity for hundreds of books – available to pre-order from Waterstone’s and sonystyle.co.uk now.
Be the first to get hold of the summer’s most hotly anticipated gadget – the new sleek and slimline Reader from Sony – a new way to read books.
Intended for all those that love books, Reader is smaller than a hardback, can store up to 160 ebooks under one cover (with thousands more on an optional Memory Stick or SD Memory card), and will be available to pre-order from Waterstone’s stores, waterstones.com and sonystyle.co.uk from 24th July.
Weighing just 260g, and with a battery life equivalent to approximately 6,800 continuous page turns - enough power to read War and Peace five times on a single charge! - the Reader from Sony is perfect for those who want to get a literary fix on the move, whether commuting on the train or flying across the globe.
What’s more, due to its revolutionary “E Ink™” electronic display panel, Reader mimics a traditional book page by being viewable in direct sunlight or at angles of up to nearly 180 degrees. For added ease, you can magnify text in three sizes.
"Reader allows people on the go to carry a wide variety of reading materials whether they are on a flight, in a waiting room, or outdoors," says Steve
Dowdle, Managing Director Sony United Kingdom Ltd "Reader can handle a stack of books as well as other documents such as PDF’s or MS Word, yet offers a ‘book-like' reading experience unavailable with other electronic devices."
Reader comes complete with everything the consumer needs to start their eBook library – USB cable, soft protective case, Sony’s “eBook Library” software, 14 pre-loaded excerpts from new and recent books, and even a free CD-Rom of 100 classic titles including The Jungle Book, Pride & Prejudice, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Great Expectations. A
unique waterproof case for Reader is also available, especially beneficial for holidays.
The nation’s largest bookseller, Waterstone’s, will be taking pre-orders in store and online from July 24th, and ebooks will be available to download from the ebookstore on the Waterstone’s website –Waterstones.com/eBooks – from early September. Amongst tens of thousands of ebook titles available, will be; Richard Branson – ‘Business Stripped Bare’; Jodi Picoult – Harvesting the Heart; Val McDermid – ‘A Darker Domain’, and Toby Young’s ‘How to Lose Friends and Alienate People’. “Waterstone’s is very impressed with the Reader from Sony and we think our customers will be too. It offers a new way of reading that is easy, and convenient, and we’re working with publishers to develop the best range of ebooks we can – classics and brand new bestsellers – to read on it.” Toby Bourne, Waterstone’s Category Manager.
"The great thing about electronic books is that in the long run they will benefit writers, creating an easier way to enable first-time authors to get their work in front of the public. That will be a revolutionary change!” says author and ambassador of the Reader, Toby Young.
In addition to electronic books, Reader can also store and display personal and business documents in the many formats - ePub, Adobe PDF, RTF, TXT and MS Word (converted to RTF automatically on the supplied software) as well as JPEG images. The USB-based mass storage capability allows the device to be used as a portable drive for the direct transfer of documents, images and other files. An auto sync feature also lets users set up folders with books and documents that can be automatically synchronized when the device is connected to a PC.
For further details go to sony.co.uk/reader.
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For more information, please contact: David Philips or Gemma Sharp at Kazoo Communications sony@kazoo.co.uk / 020 7479 4310 or Rachel Batchelor, Sony UK Rachel.Batchelor@eu.sony.com / 01932 817265
or Jon Howells, Waterstone’s Jon.howells@waterstones.com/0208 996 4385
NOTES TO EDITORS The Reader from Sony will be available from UK Sony Centres, Sony Style, Waterstone’s and selected retailers from early September.
Spokespeople available upon request.
Environmental Info Sony is engaged in a constant review of its manufacturing, operational and business practices to ensure that its products are developed in an environmentally responsible way. This approach can broadly be divided into three areas:
Environmental Information: 3Ps
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Extended user documentation is provided electronically to reduce paper use.
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The packaging uses recyclable paper to reduce the impact on the environment
Sony is determined to lead the way as a responsible manufacturer, and as a result we are focussing on three key areas of investment: 1. 2. 3. Reducing CO2 gas emissions Increasing the percentage of renewable energy used in manufacturing facilities Minimising the resources used by our factories in manufacturing
About Sony: Sony manufactures audio, video, communications and information technology products for the global consumer and professional markets. With its music, pictures, game and online businesses, Sony is uniquely positioned to be one of the world’s leading digital entertainment brands. Sony recorded consolidated global annual sales of EUR 55.83 billion (yen 8,296 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007, based on an average market exchange rate for the same period of yen 148.6 to the EUR. It employs approximately 163,000 people worldwide. In Europe, the Sony Group recorded consolidated annual sales of EUR 13.71 billion (yen 2,038 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007. Sony Europe, headquartered at the Sony Center am Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, is responsible for the company's European electronics business and registered consolidated sales of EUR 9.12 billion for the same period. For more information on Sony Europe, please visit http://www.sony-europe.com and http://www.sony-europe.com/presscenter
‘Sony’, ‘Memory Stick’ and their logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sony
Corporation. All third party trademarks are acknowledged. E Ink is a trademark of E Ink Corporation.