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Press Release

August 5, 2009

SONY UNVEILS TWO NEW EDITIONS TO THE READER FAMILY; DROPS eBOOK PRICING

Multiple Language Support, Widespread Retail Availability and Affordable Pricing for eBooks to Open Digital Reading to Mass Audience

TORONTO, Aug. 5, 2009 ¾Sony is today delivering on its promise of making digital readers and eBooks more accessible for Canadians with the introduction of two new Readers. Sony is also slashing prices for almost all new releases and New York Times best seller titles in the eBook Store by Sony from $11.99 to $9.99 USD. The Reader Touch Edition and Reader Pocket Edition include features to suit a broad spectrum of needs including French language support and will be available at the end of August at http://www.sonystyle.ca/, Sony Style retail locations and select retail partners across Canada.  

"We firmly believe consumers should have choice in every aspect of their digital reading experience" said Steve Haber, president of Sony's Digital Reading Business Division. "Our goal is to expand the market and provide open access to what consumers want to read when they want to read it – whether you buy, borrow, or get it for free."

The Reader Pocket Edition sports a five-inch electronic paper display packaged in a stylish chassis and is available in three colours, including navy blue, rose and silver. The Pocket Edition is easy to navigate with one hand, and fits into a purse or jacket pocket. The diminutive device can store about 350 standard eBooks and provides up to two weeks of reading enjoyment on a single battery charge.  

The Reader Touch Edition features a responsive, menu-driven six-inch touch screen panel enables quick, intuitive navigation, page turning, highlighting and note taking with the swipe of a finger or by using the included stylus pen. Readers can take handwritten notes with the stylus pen or type with the virtual keyboard. All notes can be exported and printed out for easy reference. The Touch Edition includes an integrated Oxford American English Dictionary that allows you to look up a word by simply tapping on it. The Touch Edition also offers five adjustable font sizes, as well as expansion slots for both
Memory Stick® PRO Duo™ and SD card, making your portable library virtually limitless. It comes in red, black or silver.

Both models feature Sony's award-winning industrial design and an E Ink® Vizplex™ electronic paper display that mimics the look of ink on paper. They ship with an attractive protective sleeve and USB cable. Sony's eBook Library software 3.0, which now includes support for Apple Macintosh computers as well as PCs, makes it easy to transfer and read any Adobe PDF (with reflow capability), Microsoft Word, BBeB files,Through the eBook Store by Sony (ebookstore.sony.com), Canadians can also access more than half a million free public domain books from Google. These titles, which Google has digitized as part of its Google Books project, are available in EPUB format and are optimized for current models of the Sony Reader. From Sony's eBook Store, Reader owners can download and transfer any of these titles to their Reader, while new eBook Store users can access available titles after setting up an account and downloading Sony's free eBook Library software.

The Reader Pocket and Touch Editions, available for $279 and $399 respectively, as well as accessories such as adaptors, cases and covers with reading lights, will be available at the end of August at http://www.sonystyle.ca/ and Sony Style retail locations across Canada. Book lovers interested in trying out a Reader in person will also be able to find them for sale at Best Buy and Future Shop.

About Sony of Canada Ltd.

Tokyo, Japan, a world leader in High Definition.  Sony provides end-to-end solutions through products that include the market-leading Blu-ray Disc™ players, BRAVIA® televisions, Cyber-shot® digital cameras, Handycam® Camcorders, VAIO® computers, broadcast cameras, IPELA security cameras and video conferencing and many more products that deliver the true entertainment experience.

With headquarters in Toronto, sales offices in Vancouver and Montreal and distribution centres in Coquitlam, British Columbia, and Whitby, Ontario, approximately 1,200 employees support a network of more than 500 authorized dealers and 68 Sony Style retail locations across Canada.

Canada is proud to support the communities in which it operates through corporate sponsorships of organizations that include the Make-A-Wish® Canada, the United Way of Canada and Earth Day Canada.

For more information contact:

Canada Public Relations
Candice_hayman@sony.ca
(416) 718-5048          

 



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