Sony’s sold its eBook readers in the Australian marketplace for quite some time now, but it’s been in the odd position of having nice hardware, but no particular book service to back it up with. That’s changed with the company officially launching its eBook store in Australia.
Sony offers reading software for PC and Mac, as well as building it into its Reader products. There’s no mention of an Android or iOS app, although Sony does have an Xperia Tablet Reader app — but it’s not clear if that’s compatible with the Australian reader store or not, and I can’t say I’ve got an Australian Xperia Tablet to test that with.
Sony’s trying to tempt eBook readers with the prospect of a free eBook, but not quite any free eBook. Instead, according to the release
For a limited time, by simply registering to Reader Store, customers will receive a for free book. The ebooks in this promotion are selected by the Reader Store editorial team and will change every few days to include titles from different genres and authors.
Freebies aside, how does the Sony Reader store compare price-wise? It’s quickly becoming evident that there’s sweet sod all in terms of actual competition in the Australian eBook space; taking Fat Duck Tech’s standard test tome, Arthur C Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey as the benchmark, Sony will sell you a digital copy for $11.99. That’s identical to the price that QBD, Apple and JB sell the same book for, as discussed last week, and it points pretty solidly to the sad fact that there’s more power with publishers than there is consumer pressure to bring eBook prices down, or for different stores to actually compete with each other for our reading dollars.
Source: Sony Reader Store