ASUS to launch an ebook reader early in 2010

by Julian Prokaza
on Fri 30 Oct 2009 Comment

We’ve already seen a few tantalising glimpses of one ASUS ebook reader idea and while there’s still no news on whether or not that dual-screen device will every go into production, it seems the company is planning to launch a more traditional e-ink gadget very soon.

The news comes from the Taiwan Economic News, who reports that ASUS is readying a device with built-in 3G, Wi-Fi and WiMAX for trial in Taiwan over the next couple of months, before launching in Europe and the US in the first half of 2010.

ASUS executives have apparently stated that the ebook reader will be priced to compete with the Amazon Kindle and Sony’s Reader device and “industry insiders” reckon that it will have a 9” screen.

It’ll be interesting to see what ASUS comes up with for an ebook reader, particularly one with a 9” screen — that’s a similar scale to the Amazon Kindle DX, which sells for $489 (around £300) in the US. There’s very little to distinguish ebook reader hardware at the moment — the grey e-ink screens are all much the same, with only rate of page refresh differing between models, and no one seems to have hit upon a successful design (although the Barnes & Noble Nook may be the first).

Hardware is only one part of the problem, of course, and format support is a more pressing issue for any ebook reader. If ASUS offers full support for a wide range of proprietary and open ebook formats — and can strike a deal with mobile operators and booksellers for an effective distribution mechanism — then it might just have something to offer.

[ Taiwan Economic News, via SlashGear]

Originally published on www.mobilecomputermag.co.uk, now incorporated into Broadband Genie

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