iPad sparks e-reader price war

The Wall Street Journal notes Sony has dropped the price of the Pocket Reader, its entry-level e-book device, to US$169 just in time for the arrival of Apple’s US$499 iPad.

While the iPad is not a direct rival, it can act as an ebook reader. The press release Apple issued at the time of the iPad launch in January 2010 lists “reading ebooks” among the device’s primary uses.

Steve Jobs demonstrated an iBook in his presentation at the official launch function. He went on to demonstrate Apple's iBook app and talked about the company's iBookstore. The iBookstore went live earlier this month (March 2010) before the iPad hits the stores next month.

Comparisons with Kindle and other ebook readers

Many of the reviews following the launch explicitly discussed the iPad’s suitability as an e-book device compared with Kindle and other e-readers.

The Wall Street Journal story quotes an analyst predicting a US$99 e-book reader by next year, pointing out it costs more than $99 to build the devices.

It's not hard to anticipate the arrival of free or heavily subsided e-book readers linked to online book shops. Amazon's roots as an online bookshop put in a strong position to dominate this market.

There’s no reason e-books can’t follow the razor and blade business model used by game console makers (Sony has experience in this market) to its logical extreme and give away the hardware to customers willing to commit to buying so-many books over the course of a year.

Let the E-Reader Price War Begin? Sony Drops to $169 – Digits – WSJ.