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Aug 27

Now Asus Plans An E-Book Reader

Posted in: ASUS, e-books, Media Players, reader, Today's Chili

Call it the EeeBook.

The electronic books reader market is red hot right now and Asus is taking notice. The company plans to introduce an e-reader under its Eee PC brand, according to a report in Taiwanese paper DigiTimes.

Asus’ new e-reader is likely to be available by the end of the year, according to company president Jerry Shen.

The e-reader market is one of the hottest consumer product categories currently. Just the last few months have seen a slew of new product announcements. After introducing Kindle 2, the updated version of its e-reader, Amazon launched a broadsheet reading device called the Kindle DX. Earlier this week, Sony introduced a $400 wireless e-reader with a 7-inch screen. Meanwhile, two other companies–iRex and Plastic Logic–plan to offer new large screen readers later this year or early next year.

Standing out from the competition won’t be easy for Asus. Asus doesn’t have the benefit of low cost or the first mover advantage in the e-reader market, two factors that ensured the company’s success in the netbooks category. The cheapest of e-book readers today is from Sony and it costs $200. Asus will have to beat that price by a significant margin.

Most 6-inch e-readers in the market currently are also homogeneous in their form factor, looks and overall experience. Doing something innovative, while keeping costs extremely low won’t be easy for Asus. Asus did not respond to a request for comment.

And unlike in the netbook market, Asus will also have to deal with the challenge of offering access to content for the device. Just adopting an open format such as EPub wont’ be enough to draw in users. After all, then what’s there to set an Asus reader apart from a Foxit eSlick or a Cool-er?

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