Brace Yourself for the Coming eReader War

Maybe I’m crazy but I’m fascinated by the emerging eReader phenomenon featuring a growing roster of devices:

• Kindle
• Kindle DX
• iPhone/iPod Touch
• Sony eReader
• Plastic Logic reader
• Hearst mystery device
• Fujitsu FLEPia
• Samsung SNE-50K
• Apple Tablet
• TechCrunch Crunchpad

The last two aren’t strictly “eReaders” (nor is the iPhone) and the Apple Tablet is just an often repeated rumor at this point. However today a bunch of media outlets reported on two new, forthcoming  readers from Sony — one undercutting Kindle on price.

The two new devices will reportedly go on sale in the US at the end of this month and are called the Sony Reader “Pocket Edition” and Reader “Touch Edition.” The latter has a touch screen, as the name suggests; and the two devices will sell for $199 and $299 respectively.

While they will be smaller than the Kindle 2 (and certainly the larger DX) their lower pricing is sure to gain consumer notice. The Kindle and DX retail are more expensive:

My belief is that to really sell to the mainstream these devices need to be priced at sub-$200. However, with all these new devices and a growing list of available book and periodical titles the market is finally here.

Now they just need to develop color screens, run video and apps (think Netflix streaming), offer full-time Internet connectivity and so on.