Sony has just relaunched its ebook store in the United Kingdom today, and the company never did an official announcement. It is the quintessential Sony pattern of launching new products and services and never publicly acknowledging it. The only thing Sony did with the relaunch was send an email to people who purchased ebooks before, when the Sony store opened up in March 2012.
If you own a Sony PRS-T1 or T2 e-reader and live in the UK, you will not be able to access it directly on your device. Sony has not released a new firmware update yet that points to the new domain. Instead, you will have to open up your internet browser and type in the URL: https://gb.readerstore.sony.com/
Sony has totally redesigned its ebook store to look more modern. The store app actually looks fairly slick and intuitive, and I commend Sony. The company is boasting almost 200 thousand titles to choose from, including bestsellers and new releases. Sony is putting a priority on international support, with eight new languages including Spanish, French, Italian, and more.
The ebooks that Sony is offering are, on average, a few pounds more then their competition, such as Amazon or Kobo. There is still no word yet if Sony will offer its discount service where the company gives out a few ebooks for just a few pence.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
