Sony Reader Desktop Edition And Mobile App (iPhone, Android) Announced

Sony has detailed an incoming update to its existing Reader Library software, which will soon be known as Reader Desktop Edition (for OS X and Windows). There is also word that a Reader Mobile Edition app is coming soon for Apple iPhone and Google Android-based smartphones, enabling users to synchronize their reading among multiple devices. This is most certainly a response to Apple’s iBook and Amazon’s Kindle app which has proven to be a popular strategy for those companies. These free Sony applications, available later this year, will offer an intuitive digital reading experience with an elegant interface and access to Sony’s Reader Store for browsing and purchasing content. Reader Desktop Edition also includes the ability to easily manage content for the non-wireless Reader models.


Picture of the new Sony Reader devices announced today, courtesy of engadget.

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01
Sep 2010
POSTED BY Christopher MacManus
POSTED IN

Hardware, Reader, Software

DISCUSSION 6 Comments
  • Aaa

    I contacted Sony and they claim there is no plans for a mobile reader app for iPhone, iPad or Android.

    • http://www.slymiser.com speener

      Sony can’t continue to exist if they don’t compete on equal footing. I have a nook and my wife has an ereader. The lack of ah iPhone/iPad app. She likes the reader – but when it comes time to choose, she’ll likely chose something else.

      • Anonymous

        Sony HAVE announced free mobile apps for both iPhone and Android: their web site says they will be available in December, so your wife needn’t be concerned about that. Your statement that “Sony can’t continue to exist if they don’t compete on an equal footing” is quite extraordinary. When will Amazon and B&N learn that they need to compete on an equal footing in regards to supporting agreed, industry-standard, open formats, rather than forcing their customers to “lock in” to their proprietary formats? Amazon and B&N are booksellers who manufacture and sell devices in order to lock customers into buying books only from them. Sony is an electronics manufacturer who make and sell devices that allows customers to buy and read books from almost anywhere (except Amazon and B&N, of course), and who only sell books as a sideline.

    • Craig Schiro Sr

      if they do not change their minds people like me will dump them for amazon! I should have purchased it insed of the Sony PRS-505 disapointment!

  • http://www.slymiser.com speener

    Actually the nook supports ePub and I’ve been able to load books purchased on the Sony store on it. I realize that the ereader is more open than the nook (I don’t believe books bought from barnes & noble aren’t compatible with other devices) but it’s a nice compromise when compared to the Kindle. Also – I have a nook, ipad, and iPhone. I use the nook for my reading, but if I’m in a waiting room, killing 5 minutes waiting for my wife, it’s nice to be able to read on my phone. And the fact that my libraries are synched across all devices along with my place in the book is major.

    • Anonymous

      I didn’t realize the Nook can handle books purchased from the Sony store (and therefore, presumably other places too). That’s a plus. It means, then, that while B&N’s hardware is “open”, B&N’s books are not (because I know for sure you can’t read them on any other device). The catch is that while the Nook supports ePub, B&N do not support Adobe’s Digital ID rights-management system (so ePub is the format, Adobe Digital Rights, or B&N’s system, are DRM systems that work with ePub).

      As for syncing, yes, that’s nice. It will be interesting to see if that works with the new Sony mobile apps. I concede that being able to read on my Android phone might be nice if I have a few minutes to kill and don’t have my Reader on me, though I still can’t say it would be a “make or break purchasing decision” for me. I do know that when I replaced my old 900 with the new 650, the books I open on the 650 appear to have remembered my previous page positions. Whether that works with the new apps, remains to be seen. At the very last, I guess it would require me to re-sync the Reader with the laptop, after reading on the phone. And it might be more complicated than that in my case, as I only use the Reader software for managing books bought through Sony (or borrowed from my library); for my open-source/non-DRM books, I use free third-party software called Calibre. I don’t know if that will complicate or limit the syncing process or not. But since I don’t plan to make a big thing of reading on the phone, I don’t think it will be a big deal. At worst, I will have to scroll forward a few pages, since I can’t imagine reading more than that on the phone. But that’s just me. Cheers!