Amazon announces a $139 Kindle to be available at the end of August.

Locked in a fierce war against some formidable competitors like Barnes & Nobles and Sony and a host of new entrants, Amazon the maker of Kindle and a pioneer in the area of e-readers, has just introduced two new versions of the Kindle e-readers last week. With competitors like Barne & Noble and its Nook e-reader which starting last June was offered at the low price of $ 149, Amazon could not stay on the sidelines too long and watch risking loosing some market share. It comes up with a $139 Kindle version that has the particularity of connecting to the Internet using Wi-Fi only unlike the previous versions.
The other model introduced is the new Kindle 2 slated to go on sale at the same price as the older one or $189. Both new models are smaller and lighter than previous ones and with higher contrast screens with the ability to deliver crisper texts. They also boost twice the storage capacity of previous ones, up to 3,500 book according to the New York Times.

For more, see NYTimes.com

Sony to offer digital books in open format.

Sony announced last week that starting next year, it will offer digital books only in the ePub format which is an open standard created by a group of publishers like Random House and HarperCollins. What that means is any digital book sold by Sony will be readable not only on its own e-reader known under the Reader brand, but on any other e-reader. In another move, Sony plan to eliminate its proprietary anti copying software in favor of a new technology from Adobe that restricts how often an e-book can be copied or shared.
Sony is also planing to introduce later this year, a third Reader that will let users download e-books wirelessly just like the Amazon Kindle.

For more, see pcworld.com