Sony Holding Off On Color eBook Reader [Current Color eReader Screens Don't Meet Sony's Quality]

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Before that thing called the Kindle, Sony was one of the first companies to offer an eBook Reader, although, without the subsidiaries of the Kindle Store, their eReaders have been pretty expensive and sold mediocrely. A few eReader screen manufacturers (including big dog E Ink) have showed off prototypes of color displays, but Sony isn’t impressed.

Fuji Noguchi, deputy president of Sony’s Digital Reading division said that Sony is “considering making color e-book readers, but there is no electronic paper whose quality is high enough for us.” Quite a blow to E Ink and all the other manufacturers who have showed off color prototypes.

Obviously, this is a hot issue as the iPad was revealed a few days ago with it’s strong iBook application. Of course, the iPad has a color LCD screen, with 132ppi, and could be a strong competitor to the current eReader market place.

However, Noguchi believes that an electronic paper solution, vs. the glass OLED screen of the iPad, will appeal to most readers over a longer period of time. Despite facing strong competition from the Kindle and the Nook, Sony is doing well in the market they invented.

Noguchi reported to the press that sales of their eReader lines have been quadrupling on a year-by-year basis ever since the product line launched in October 2006.  He even pointed out that activation was slow on Sony’s servers this past Christmas Day as so many people tried to register their new Sony Readers.

Sony currently has two eReaders for sale (the PRS-300 and PRS-600) with the cheaper of the two on sale for $300. Ooops, turns out Sony is selling three eReaders at the moment (the PRS-300, PRS-600 and the PRS-900) and with the lowest selling for $199. Props to Corey for noticing my mistake – I’ll never trust Wikipedia again.