Berlin, Germany - Sony Corporation (Sony) announces that it will expand its online bookstore, Reader™ Store, into European markets. Reader Store is scheduled to launch in the U.K. by the end of October 2011, while Reader Store for customers in Germany and Austria is scheduled to launch by the end of the year. Sony will also begin to successively launch Reader Store in France, Italy and Spain starting in Spring 2012.
Reader Store, which launched for the U.S. and Canada in 2006, and expanded to Japan in December 2010, offers a huge selection of ebook content such as books, magazines, newspapers and comicsⅰ.
At launch, Reader Store in the U.K. is expected to offer over 100,000 ebooks across multiple categories, including fiction and non-fiction bestsellers from famous British authors such as David Nicholls, Rosamund Lupton, Michael McIntyre, Caitlin Moran, Richard Branson and Dawn French. It will also offer a selection of UK newspapers such as The Daily Mail, The Guardian and The Observer; international newspapers; and magazines such as The New Statesman and The Spectator. The number and range of available periodicals will grow continually.
On August 31, Sony also announced its sleek, new, Wi-Fi equipped Reader™ ebook device - the world's lightest six-inch eReaderⅱ. It sports an advanced touch screen which allows for pinch in/pinch out zooming, as well as directly marking-up ebook content, and 12 multi-language dictionaries. Additionally, its wireless capabilities allow users to look up words or references in their current favorite read on Wikipedia® and Google search engine, with a single tap of their finger – as well as providing on-device access to ebook catalogues from select public libraries in the US, Canada and the UK.
Customers can purchase titles once from Reader Store, on Reader Wi-Fi as well as on PC and Mac, and then enjoy them across all compatible devicesⅲ. Moreover, customers will also be able to access Reader Store on the "Sony Tablet", as well as more devices in the future.