MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Samsung e-book reader announced in South Korea

advocate2 · 07-27-2009, 11:23 AM

Here is the Wall Street Journal article:

SEOUL – Samsung Electronics Co. jumped into the e-book market on Monday by rolling out a small-screen reader that it will initially sell in its home country of South Korea with content provided by a local bookstore chain.

Samsung's SNE-50K e-book, which will be priced at 339,000 won or about $270, has a five-inch touch-screen that also allows users to write and store memos.

The device has 512 megabytes of memory storage, more than Sony Corp.'s similarly-priced Reader, but less than the entry-level version of Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle, which sells for $299. It's slim at nine millimeters and weighs 6.5 ounces, less than the 10-ounce Kindle.

Samsung is still working on versions of an e-book reader to sell in other countries and executives said they aim to show prototypes at an industry trade show in January. The company is negotiating with publishers and retailers for content.

In South Korea, Samsung partnered with the online store of Kyobo Bookstore Co., one of the country's largest bookstore chains, to offer downloadable books. Kyobo currently offers electronic versions of about 2,500 books, chiefly South Korean titles.

Samsung's initial e-book reader doesn't support wireless downloads or connections to the Internet, as Amazon's Kindle and readers by some smaller firms do. Instead, a customer must download a book to a PC and then into the device.

Samsung said software is included to make its reader capable of displaying documents created in Microsoft Corp.'s Office programs and Adobe Systems Inc.'s PDF format.

07-27-2009, 11:23 AM	#2
advocate2 My Kingdom for Karma Posts: 430 Karma: 7125 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Las Vegas Device: Sony 350, 650, 950, Nook Color	Here is the Wall Street Journal article: SEOUL – Samsung Electronics Co. jumped into the e-book market on Monday by rolling out a small-screen reader that it will initially sell in its home country of South Korea with content provided by a local bookstore chain. Samsung's SNE-50K e-book, which will be priced at 339,000 won or about $270, has a five-inch touch-screen that also allows users to write and store memos. The device has 512 megabytes of memory storage, more than Sony Corp.'s similarly-priced Reader, but less than the entry-level version of Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle, which sells for $299. It's slim at nine millimeters and weighs 6.5 ounces, less than the 10-ounce Kindle. Samsung is still working on versions of an e-book reader to sell in other countries and executives said they aim to show prototypes at an industry trade show in January. The company is negotiating with publishers and retailers for content. In South Korea, Samsung partnered with the online store of Kyobo Bookstore Co., one of the country's largest bookstore chains, to offer downloadable books. Kyobo currently offers electronic versions of about 2,500 books, chiefly South Korean titles. Samsung's initial e-book reader doesn't support wireless downloads or connections to the Internet, as Amazon's Kindle and readers by some smaller firms do. Instead, a customer must download a book to a PC and then into the device. Samsung said software is included to make its reader capable of displaying documents created in Microsoft Corp.'s Office programs and Adobe Systems Inc.'s PDF format.