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Continue reading The Sharper Image announces Literati color e-reader

The Sharper Image announces Literati color e-reader originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 10:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just as the e-readers market seemed poised for a shakeout, Sharper Image–a store best known for its R2-D2 droids and ionic air purifier–has decided to jump in with a new e-reader.

Sharper Image has announced ‘Literati,’ a device with a color screen that will retail for $160. The device will be powered by the Kobo e-book store. Literati will have Wi-Fi connectivity, wireless book downloads and free reading apps.

The Literati has been created after an “extensive two-year design and development process,” says Sharper Image, and will ship nationwide in early October.

The Literati comes to market at a time when upstart e-readers are disappearing. Price wars by the big three e-reader makers–Amazon, Sony and Barnes & Noble and competition in the category has taken its toll on companies. Earlier this month, Foxit announced it will stop development on its eSlick e-reader. Plastic Logic canceled its plans to bring its e-reader to market, while Cool-er’s e-readers have been listed out of stock in the U.S. for months.

Meanwhile, bigger e-reader makers are ramping up their marketing efforts. Barnes & Noble has started aggressively selling the Nook reader in its stores. Amazon new, improved Kindle e-reader also seems to have turned into best-seller with Amazon racing to keep up with the demand.

Literati will wade into this fiercely competitive market. The color screen on the device is interesting. Though the company hasn’t offered any details about it, it is likely to be an LCD display. But the device doesn’t have a big price advantage over its rivals. The Literati costs just $20 less than the $190 Kindle.

What it has going for it is an impressive retail distribution network. The Literati will be available in stores such as Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, JC Penney, Kohl’s and Macy’s.

See Also:

• Plastic Logic Que E-Reader Turns Into Vaporware
• Kobo E-Reader First on iPad
• Upstart E-readers Fade to Black as Tablets Gain Momentum
• 5 Things That Will Make E-Readers Better in 2010
• E-Readers Will Survive the Onslaught of Tablets

It’s hard to begrudge Amazon this smug bit of PR it pushed out this morning, crowing over the sales success of its new Kindle line. The third-generation Kindles have more sales in the first four weeks of sales than any previous generation Kindles over the same time span — not exactly a surprise, but Amazon certainly isn’t off its game here. The new Kindles also maintain the e-reader’s two year reign as the best selling product on Amazon.com. As if in celebration of this continued success, Amazon says it’s starting to ship the new Kindles out today, two days earlier than the published released date. “You’re welcome,” Jeff Bezos mouths, soundlessly.

Continue reading New Kindles are Amazon’s fastest-selling yet, start shipping today

New Kindles are Amazon’s fastest-selling yet, start shipping today originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 11:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung Electronics announced Monday that its halting production of e-paper due to cost issues. While Samsung has yet to out an actual device boasting e-paper, but did show off a prototype late last year which boasted a color display. The official word from Samsung itself is that it will not actually exit the e-reader market, rather that it will produce a device with an LCD, with plans to launch said reader next year. We wait expectantly.

Samsung leaving the e-paper business, citing cost issues originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 11:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While the world holds its collective breath for India to actually mass produce that $35 tablet it’s been trumpeting here lately, the country’s own EC Media International is taking the wraps off of a sparkling new e-reader: the Wink. This cutely titled device doesn’t look much different than older generation Kindles, but it’ll reportedly support 15 languages and will offer 200,000+ book titles right out of the gate. The company has managed to garner the support of publishers like Penguin, Roli, Oxford University, Harper Collins and Permanent Black, and as expected, it’ll also be pushed as a substitute for traditional newspapers and magazines. As for pricing? Mum’s the word on that, but we are told that the EC Media has landed Croma as a retail partner and Redington as its primary distribution partner. Oh, and we guess you’d probably be interested in the specs — there’s a 6-inch (800 x 600) e-paper display, 2GB of inbuilt storage, 802.11b/g WiFi, GPRS wireless connectivity, a battery good for 10,000 page turns (or 10 hours of music playback), 3.5mm headphone jack, a USB 2.0 socket and support for a wide variety of text and audio formats. If that’s not tickling your fancy, it looks as if the outfit has three more options listed as “upcoming,” so hang tight. Short hands-on video after the break.

Update: Digit TV has a hands-on video!

[Thanks, Anish and Siddarth]

Continue reading EC Media launches Wink e-reader in India

EC Media launches Wink e-reader in India originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Aug 2010 08:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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