Palo Alto, Calif. — Google announced on its blog Monday that the first e-reader to be based on Google’s eBooks platform will go on sale July 17.
The device is called the iRiver Story HD, and its manufacturer iRiver is selling it exclusively at Target for $139.99. Users can download titles using Wi-Fi, but the device does not support 3G.
“With the rapid advancements of e-readers and tablets, the iRiver Story HD’s superior features and integration with Google eBooks sets it apart,” said Nik Nayar, Target’s vice president of merchandising. “Target is excited to bring this new e-reader to our guests before any other retailer.”
Google uses Adobe Content Server as its digital rights management (DRM) solution, which the company said enables users to avoid being locked in to a single device or retailer when purchasing eBooks or moving them on and off a cloud storage system like Google Cloud. The same DRM is used on the Sony Reader and the Barnes & Noble Nook, but not by Amazon’s Kindle.
Google claims the iRiver device is a “new milestone” for them, noting that the Google eBook platform was built to be open to publishers, retailers and manufacturers.
(Chris Marlowe contributed to this report.)Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/6d2c7fz (Google’s Blog)
http://www.iriver.com/ (iRiver)
