[fbrII]

I'm thinkin

Will Sony get out of the e-book business, no. I think we are going to witness a battle for dominance in the digital media market with e-books just being a small part of the overall battle.

Players will be Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goggle and Sony. Sony, Apple and Amazon playing to win the hardware battle for now. Goggle, B&N and Amazon fighting for content. PlasticLogic may hit one out of the park but long term they will fall or be gobbled up by one of the big boys.

Right now it takes a good reader and a lot of content to be a player. It wouldn't surprise me to see the pairing for the next round Sony & Goggle, Amazon & Amazon, B&N and PlasticLogic, Apple and Apple or Apple and Amazon.

Eventually I think Sony loses because they see themselves as a hardware company and not a content company and while they often make superior products they almost always lose the media battles. B&N and PlasticLogic will also lose cause they can't compete in the same arena as the big boys but maybe make a mint in a merger situation.

Apple eventually wins the electronic media gadget by offering a high-end, can't be seen without it whatever and pair themselves with somebody, not named Goggle, for publishing content and Amazon becomes the only other Gorilla in the room.

But back to the immediate question - what is Sony going to do? My guess create some more good products and maybe try to solve their content problem by pairing up with Goggles new book store in a marriage of convenience for both partners.

just sayin