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If the north american price is a direct conversion of the euro price, i cant imagine this thing even being competitive. The multi-touch is nice, but who would really be willing to pay an additional 60-70$ over a nook touch or kobo touch? This isnt like a kindle, where it can get extra sales off its bookstore since pretty much all the major book sellers now(other than amazon) offer epub's.
I personally like the style of the older[read:metal] sony readers but there is no way i would pay that big a premium for them... and since this model has gone over to plastic(and exceptionally glossy plastic, from what i have seen on the engadget video) i cant see anyone using its physical design as an excuse to pay extra for it.
If sony were to match the kobo or nook i bet a lot of people would consider it, and maybe even hold off on buying something until they got a chance to try it out... but even than, the things it offers over the other touch-capable competition seem kinda insignificant. Multi touch sounds cool, but i bet it would be a headache with the slow cpu, and incredibly slow response time on the screen.(Like pinching to zoom on one of those ultra cheap, import from china for $60 android tablets)
I thought sony's ereader division was dead in the water 2 generations ago when the kindle 2 and kobo were both at around $130 and its prs600 was still $250. Than last generation, it became pretty much irrelevant after the initial curiosity wore off on its fancy new lazer touch screen.(and than being implemented on cheaper, some might say better readers)
If there newest answer is to emulate the competition and add in a single gimmick, but keep the ridiculous price point, they might as well just sit this generation out. 'Sony quality' might have stood for something back in the 80's, but now a days they arnt up against iffy brands like Pulsar or Goldstar.
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