Sony Reader to Carry Adverts

New Media Age reported that Sony is likely to soon include third-party advertising opportunities on its Sony Reader as more publishers come on board. The devices is claimed to have sold over 300,000 units globally and today is seen by many as the opponent to Kindle and outside the US its often viewed as the only offer and certainly the only device that can render DRM epub today. However, as other devices adopt the Adobe ACS4 toolkit it position as the only epub device will soon be negated.

So why adverts and how will they appear? Will Sony discount the device in line with the ad revenues expected or publishers use it as a sampler similar to the Kindle? Can we get an ad free device at a premium? Are ads coming to accomadate newspapers, magazines and a larger reader – afterall Kindle has 3 models and Sony only has two. Are ads part of a larger programme to be wireless and therefore offer the ability to not only connect without the Adobe Editions mothership but also transact direct from the Sony reader?
Steve Haber, president of Sony Electronics’ digital reading business division, is reported “Advertising is not part of the business model at the moment but I would imagine that when it comes to periodicals, newspapers and magazines, those businesses are built around the advertising model so I would imagine it going in that direction.”

So what does the ereader want to be when it grows up?

Perhaps it can take on some of the business that Craiglist is now turning away. The US classified ads website says it will remove its erotic services category. Apparently, it promotes prostitution and prostitutes and clients use the site for illegal sexual encounters.

Several law enforcement agencies across the US have threatened the management of Craigslist with prosecution and last November Craigslist announced a deal with 40 state attorneys general that said it would charge for erotic services ads and require advertisers to use a credit card for payment.

In place will be a new closely monitored adult services section.

So What Do You Want For Christmas?

So Septemberfest has begun with everyone in the UK expressing an opinion on the Sony reader, Kindles, ebooks. Waterstones claim thousands of pre orders for the device but the store has a dearth of content, only some 7,000 titles, and at it current price still looks a buy devoid of logic. Even with a projection of 20,000 titles by the end of the year looks a poor consumer proposition. The trade’s organ The Bookseller’s Graeme Neill called the ebook readers one dimensional and poor value.

Not to be undone Apple is being widely reported to unveil new iPod music players at a media event next Tuesday. Reporters have received an invitation to a September 9 event entitled "Let's Rock," with an image of a man jumping in the air while listening to an iPod, with the words "playing soon."

The nature of the market demands an iPod refresh and their iPod Touch now have a higher starting price $299 than its $199 iPhone, which does not make any sense and needs to be addressed. Analysts however expect Apple to refresh its MacBook notebook PCs soon but not on Tuesday.

What’s betting there will be even more ‘major’ digital announcements as everyone vies for the Christmas number one slot.

Where have the Sony Readers Gone?

So we now know were many of the Sony readers have gone – not to consumers, but to large publishers to give to their own staff.

Well practicing what you preach is always to be applauded and in many ways the more familiar those producing content are with the digital opportunities, then the more they will develop with them in mind. This exercise in digital adoption is a great step forward.

The question one must ask however is why the Sony reader? Its proprietary format is a questionable lame duck, PDF is PDF and although ePub is supported we doubt that the majority of manuscripts are in this format. Perhaps it’s the best of the bunch today and therefore why not and we suspect a handsome deal was struck.

The editorial and production process demands transforming from the old analogue one to a digital one but this will take time and if this is the first step on that journey then it must be welcome. However, we do not believe that the Sony alone is the answer in this area and changing the analogue process is both the big opportunity and challenge.