Copia promises to blend e-books and social networking into set of new readers
Brace yourself, more e-readers on your way! First up the open platform: DMC Worldwide announces Copia, a social networking / e-book store hybrid that's gearing up hit private beta status this month and public beta in March. With that out of the way, let's talk hardware. Lower on the list of gear is the keyboard-laden Tidal with a 6-inch, 600 x 800 screen and 2GB internal storage. Just above that is the Tidal Touch with a 9-inch, 768 x 1024 screen, earphone / mic jack, 4GB internal upgradeable to microSD. And then we've got Ocean, which comes in 6-inch (600 x 800 pixels) and 9-inch (768 x 1024 pixels) variants and both feature capacitive touchscreens, 802.11b/g WiFi, tilt sensors, 4GB internal storage expandable via microSD, and some form of earphone / mic jack. Both Tidal Touch and Ocean 9 have optional 3G connectivity (that in the process halves internal storage to 2GB and nixing the microSD slot). Prices reportedly range between two and three Benjamins and will hit availability status online in April, followed by retail in June. Presser? You guessed right, it's after the break. %Gallery-81650%
Show full PR text
DMC Worldwide Introduces Suite of COPIA E-Readers
Broad Lineup of Wireless Touchscreen Devices Combines a Portable Social Networking and Collaboration Experience with Access to a Wide Array of Digital Content
LAS VEGAS, CES 2010, Central Hall, Booth #9817, Jan. 6, 2010 – DMC Worldwide (DMCWW), a leading enterprise and consumer technology company, today introduced its suite of COPIA (www.thecopia.com) e-readers and related accessories. The e-readers, branded OCEAN and TIDAL, are full-featured wireless reading devices that enable users to connect with the COPIA (www.thecopia.com) community to discover, enjoy, share and purchase digital content including books, newspapers and magazines.
The COPIA e-readers offer an immersive and connected reading experience. The suite includes both monochrome e-paper-based touchscreens and panels with robust Wi-Fi or 3G wireless connectivity and advanced color e-readers designed for rich content. Each device is designed to extend the collaborative online experience of COPIA, a device-agnostic platform that DMC Worldwide unveiled today.
"The COPIA platform – including the online community, e-commerce engine and broad suite of devices – were designed to satisfy consumers' ferocious appetite for content consumption, as well as a shared experience," said Ben Lowinger, EVP, DMC Worldwide. "The devices match perfectly to the experience of reading a book, magazine or newspaper, and both TheCopia.com and COPIA e-readers offer a compelling online and hardware platform to deliver entertainment content through an experience which creates communities, drives commerce and fosters collaboration."
Key features of the COPIA e-readers include:
The Connected Experience
COPIA e-reader users can instantly connect to TheCopia.com, a device-agnostic, online destination that enables readers of all ages to experience a completely new way to discover, enjoy, share and purchase books, newspapers, magazines and a wide variety of digital content. COPIA combines a compelling social networking experience, collaboration and intuitive shared discovery with meaningful reading content. Students, as well as book groups, can highlight, annotate and connect to each other directly from the COPIA e-readers to the online COPIA community.
Broad Access to Content
The COPIA e-reader users will have access to a compelling array of content across best-sellers, popular titles, textbooks, public domain titles and an array of additional entertainment content, with new content being added daily. Current and future content agreements can be found at www.thecopia.com/press.
Pricing and Availability
The COPIA e-readers will be available for purchase online in April 2010 and at retail by June 2010 with prices ranging from $199- $299 (MSRP).
TheCopia.com will begin its private, limited-invitation beta in Jan. 2010. The public beta will launch in March 2010.
For more information on the COPIA e-readers, including hi-resolution images and a press release on the entire COPIA solution, please visit TheCopia.com media web site at www.thecopia.com/press. DMC Worldwide will display the COPIA e-reader lineup and demo the COPIA experience at CES 2010, Central Hall, Booth #9817. To schedule a briefing, please contact dmc@cohnwolfe.com.
