14 DAY TRIAL // Sony is currently going through some substantial changes, as the company announced it was selling its 18-year-old Vaio PC business in an effort to refocus its efforts on tablets and smartphones.
Apparently, Sony will be getting rid of other non-profitable business it has set up in several markets and new information reveals that the company will be redrawing itself from the US and Canadian ebook / eReader market.
The beneficiary of Sony’s failure will be tablet and eReader maker Kobo, which will take care of Sony Reader customers and manage the ebook libraries starting this March.
Moreover, from now on the Kobo-dedicated Android app will come bundled on the Sony Xperia line of tablets and smartphone.
“Until the Reader Store is closed on March 20, 2014, customers can continue to shop at the Reader Store and use the Reader device.”
“In late March, they’ll receive an email from Reader Store with instructions on how to transfer to Kobo. As part of the transfer process, Sony will send customers a link to enable them to transfer their Reader Store library and any Reader Store account credits to a Kobo account. Customers can also still download eBooks they previously purchased at Reader Store until April 30, 2014,” reads the official Sony statement.
User should also note the highlights, bookmarks and annotations they made in their Reader Store eBooks will continue to be available in the same format after the transfer to Kobo has been completed.
There might be some situations when the eBooks purchased at the Sony reader Store will not be available in the Kobo store for re-download, but to avoid such a situation from happening, users can download a copy of the book from the Reader store before April 30, 2014.
The news about Sony giving up on its eBook business in the US doesn’t come as a shock, as companies like Amazon and Barnes & Nobles hold monopoly over the digital reading market.