Advertisement

Sony refuses to get caught up in a price war with Kindle, intends to compete on quality

Boy, Sony sure loves to drag its heels when it comes to obvious industry trends. First netbooks were "a race to the bottom," now the company's saying it "won't sacrifice the quality and design" of its e-readers in order to lay claim to being the cheapest. This comes as a reaction to the Kindle's aggressive new $139 entry price point and continues Sony's reluctance to fiddle with what it sees as a successful formula. We're not going to second-guess the reasoning (too much), but it's not like there's that much room to differentiate yourself when you're using the same E Ink tech as the competition, is there? Guess if all else fails, Sony can always innovate the hell out of those leatherette cases and bundle them with the Reader.