Well, at least according to this article (http://www.lefigaro.fr/medias/2008/05/06/04002-20080506ARTFIG00007-nourry-pas-de-menace-d-un-transfert-numerique-massif.php), it is:
Hachette Livre sera prêt pour la sortie en fin d'année du lecteur numérique («e-book») de Sony.
Via Teleread (http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/05/20/hachette-plans-to-buy-numilog-and-introduce-the-sony-reader-to-france-this-year/).

Related: Hachette acquiert Numilog, proposera le Sony en France (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24124)

and, in the same article, Hachette has bought Numilog. that could be potentially great news for availability of content in french.

I also found this quote interesting.
Depuis janvier, nous proposons ainsi 1 000 livres en format numérique sur l'e-book d'Amazon, le Kindle. Cette activité ne génère que 0,1 % de notre chiffre d'affaires aux États-Unis. En Europe, elle est quasi inexistante.
Since January, we offer 1000(s?) books in digital format for the e-book from Amazon, Kindle. This activity generates only 0.1% of our turnover in the USA. In Europe, it is virtually non-existent.

yes, i'm not sure whether that can be imputed to a very small subset of customers (are Hachette's books sold in french in the US ? or in english ? if in french, their customers are the subset of kindle owners who read in french, and in the US i doubt that can be a very high figure) or something else...

they estimated 2 generations before any significant shift towards digital reading !

also : bad news for us, apparently (i don't know why) digital books are taxed at the standard rate of 19.6%, not the book rate of 5.5% TVA. the article predicts ebooks will only be 10% to 20% less expensive than a paper book. they also mention DRM costs as a factor however, so hopefully the book industry will quickly realize what the music industry finally is catching on to and get rid of DRM. lower costs for the editors, lower prices for the customers, who are therefore happier and more numerous, everyone wins...

Hachette Livre sera prêt pour la sortie en fin d'année du lecteur numérique («e-book») de Sony.

Does this quote imply that Hachette will prepare content for the Sony Reader by the end of the year, or that they will provide the Sony Reader itself? Teleread seems to imply (from the translation of the French source) that Hachette is going to introduce the Reader.

The Bookseller (http://www.thebookseller.com/news/58223-hachette-prepares-for-sony-french-launch.html) (May 09, 2008):

Hachette Livre is to acquire French digital book distributor Numilog. The move is designed to prepare Hachette Livre for the launch in France of the Sony digital e-book at the end of this year.

Hachette said that it would enable it to distribute books published by its own imprints as well as by third-party publishers in a variety of digital formats.

Also:

Numilog has not grown as fast as expected initially, because digital books have not yet made much inroad into the French market. That will not change massively for at least two generations, according to Hachette Livre CEO Arnaud Nourry. He predicted that digital books would represent between 1% and 5% of the general public market within five years. The Numilog books will be priced 10% to 20% lower than their paper versions.

we were discussing this on the french thread. it would seem that the Sony launch is unrelated to Hachette, but that Hachette is preparing content for it. the teleread info is probably due to a translation error.

Hachette's been doing a great job here in the US. In their Orbit line every pbook release (at least every one I've looked for) gets an ebook release with lower than pbook prices. For instance Lilith Saintcrow's releases from them are $6.99 as paperbacks, but $4.99 as ebooks (and usually discounted by the retailer from there).

Canada, France... where next?
Australia? :D

Tad and Zelda: It was indeed a translation error. See http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/05/21/french-store-to-sell-sony-readers-with-epub-capabilities-this-year-epub-to-be-on-sony-reader-in-the-us-by-then/ for our take on FNAC. Thanks. David

dr@teleread.org | 703-370-6540

thanks for the confirmation, David.