Reports of Several E-Reading Device Manufacturers Talking With Verizon
Thanks to
lee1234 for pointing this out to us!
The folks over at
Yahoo Tech are
reporting that as many as five different e-reading device makers have approached them about providing wireless service for their devices -- presumably, they're looking for something like Amazon has set up with Sprint.
Quote:
Tony Lewis, who heads an initiative within Verizon Wireless to provide access to non-phone devices, said Wednesday that five companies have approached Verizon about wireless connections for e-readers.
"You're going to see a lot of e-readers out there," Lewis said. "The interest level is tremendous."
Lewis wouldn't say which manufacturers Verizon has been talking to. But he hinted that they are looking at entering parts of the e-book market that the Kindle doesn't focus on, like college textbooks.
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Buried in the third-to-last paragraph is this tidbit: AT&T is eying the game as well:
Quote:
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AT&T Inc., the second largest wireless carrier after Verizon Wireless, has also been talking to e-reader manufacturers, said Ralph de la Vega, the company's head of consumer services. Since AT&T's network is more similar to ones used overseas, it could support international e-book readers, he noted. The Kindle can download books only in the U.S.
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It doesn't take much thought to guess that Sony's probably in there somewhere -- not only have they committed to releasing a wireless Reader at some, as yet unspecified, future time, they're actually mentioned in the article, but only by way of neither confirming nor denying that they're one of the mysterious five.
Of course, those keeping count know that
any group of five e-reading device manufacturers would almost
have to include Sony, especially if Amazon can't also be in the group. The pool has been expanding lately, but it's still a pretty small puddle.
So, assuming Sony is most likely in there, who do you think the other four might be?
Via Electronista.com
EDIT: D'oh! I just realized that
wallcraft had already posted this over
here. Sorry 'bout that, I wasn't trying to ignore you.
