Sony is apparently planning to enter the electronic book business with the introduction of their e-reader device at CES this year. Although eBook devices have failed in the past, Sony hopes to take a page out of Apple’s strategy by creating a content site that goes along with their gadget. Sony will sell the e-reader at a price point between $300 to $500 dollars and then offer electronic books for sale on their Sony Connect online store. The e-reader device is expected to use E Ink’s E Ink display technology which means the screen will look very similar to a printed page and the power consumption will be extremely low. Another interesting change in Sony’s plans – the e-reader will support an open media format in the SD card. You can also connect the device to your PC via the USB port. It remains to be seen whether this will change the low sales for this market category. It’s hard to convince people to shell out money for digital books – especially with all the DRM protection in place. $300 bucks for a device like this? I’m not sure it’ll be on my wish list for 06.

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