Models and Availability
There have been ten models to date. The PRS-500 (PRS standing for Portable Reader System) was made available in the United States in September 2006. On 1 November 2006, Readers went on display and for sale at Borders bookstores throughout the US. Borders had an exclusive contract for the Reader until the end of 2006. From April 2007, Sony Reader has been sold in the US by multiple merchants, including Fry's Electronics, Costco, Borders and Best Buy. The eBook Store from Sony is only available to U.S. or Canadian residents or to customers who purchased a U.S.-model reader with bundled eBook Store credit.
On July 24, 2007, Sony announced that the PRS-505 Reader would be available in the UK with a launch date of September 3, 2008. Waterstone's is the official retail partner and the Reader is available at selected stores such as Argos, Sony Centres and Dixons; while a red edition is available exclusively from John Lewis.
The PRS-700, with touch screen and built in lighting was announced on October 2, 2008 (and has since been discontinued).
On August 5, 2009 Sony announced two new readers, the budget PRS-300 Pocket Edition and the more advanced PRS-600 Touch Edition.
On August 25, 2009 Sony announced the Reader PRS-900 "Daily Edition." This features a 7" diagonal screen to compete with the Amazon Kindle DX. It's also the first to feature free 3G wireless through AT&T to access the Sony eBookstore without the need of a computer. It also is the first to increase the grayscale level, from 8 to 16.
In September 2010, Sony introduced the PRS-350 Pocket Edition and PRS-650 Touch Edition, as replacements for the PRS-300 and PRS-600, with both new models featuring 16-level grey scale touch screens. The launch of the new models also represented the introduction of the Sony Reader into the Australian and New Zealand markets for the first time.
On August 31, 2011, Sony announced a new reader replacing all of their previous models, the PRS-T1, featuring a 6" screen.
On August 16, 2012, Sony announced the PRS-T1 replacement, the PRS-T2.
Read more about this topic: Sony Reader
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