E-books Are the Latest Bestsellers to Fly Off Shelf

By BRAD STONE and MOTOKO RICH, New York Times

Last update: December 24, 2008 - 8:23 PM

I use a free reader on my Blackberry
I downloaded the free Mobiplayer software to my Blackberry. With this setup I also have a backlit screen and can adjust the screen … read more brightness, I also have the ability to add bookmarks, highlights, and notes to the books I am reading, the ability to download a sample of the book from MobiPocket before I buy it, and the ability to convert any text I want to Mobiplayer format, using free software on my desktop computer, and transfer it to my Blackberry to read when I have a spare moment. The screen is small but I can select any font size I wish and advance a page at the touch of a button. Likely the Kindle and Sony players have more features, but with my Blackberry and Mobiplayer, I have the books I am reading with me whenever I want them and I don't need to keep track of another electronic device much less keep it charged.

Could book lovers finally be willing to switch from pages to pixels? For a decade, consumers mostly ignored electronic book devices, which were often hard to use and offered few popular items to read. But this year, partly because of the popularity of Amazon.com's wireless Kindle device, the e-book has started to take hold.

The $359 Kindle, which is slim, white and about the size of a trade paperback, was introduced a year ago. Although Amazon will not disclose sales figures, the Kindle has at least lived up to its name by creating broad interest in electronic books. Now it is out of stock and unavailable until February. Analysts credit Oprah Winfrey, who praised the Kindle on her show in October, and blame Amazon for poor holiday planning.

The shortage is providing an opening for Sony, which embarked on an intense publicity campaign for its Reader device during the gift-buying season. The stepped-up competition may represent a coming of age for the entire idea of reading longer texts on a portable digital device.

"The perception is that e-books have been around for 10 years and haven't done anything," said Steve Haber, president of Sony's digital reading division. "But it's happening now. This is really starting to take off."

Sony's efforts have been overshadowed by Amazon's. But this month it began a promotional blitz in airports, train stations and bookstores.

The company's latest model, the Reader 700, is a $400 device with a reading light and a touch screen that allows users to annotate what they are reading. Haber said Sony's sales had tripled this holiday season over last, partly because the device is now available in the Target, Borders and Sam's Club chains. He said Sony had sold more than 300,000 devices since the Reader's 2006 debut.