We reported a while ago that Sony was developing a few new e-readers and one has appeared recently at the FCC. When this e-reader launches it will have Harry Potter eBooks bundled with the device as a major selling point.
Harry Potter eBooks will exclusively be sold DRM-FREE from Pottermore in conjunction with Sony and digital creative agency THINK. The books will have a watermark symbol when you purchase them linking them to a particular buyer. The spirit behind this is the books can be used in all of your devices without having to use programs such as Adobe Digital Editions. This should help curb the rampant piracy of the books because the owner’s name is linked right on the pages of the books. The ebooks will launching with the Pottermore website but the interactive content will be launched at a much longer interval.
Sony and Pottermore have a strategic relationship and the company is basically sponsoring the online Pottermore project. Sony plans to offer the the entire digital Harry Potter eBook series with the launch of its new e-reader. Readers are in for a treat as each book has thousands of words in bonus content that the author tediously added to expand on the universe. When you buy the Sony e-Reader you will also get an exclusive invite to participate for free in the first interactive eBook that Pottermore will offer – Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone. The Sony bundling deal makes sense from an advertising point of view and will help draw attention away from other new devices when kids are asking for new toys this holiday season.
It has been speculated on many blogs that somehow Sony has landed an agreement to get the eBooks ahead of the competition, but that simply is not the case. Pottermore representatives have said that the “Harry Potter e-books will be made available for all platforms simultaneously via the Pottermore website: there will be no period during which it will be available only with the Sony reader.”
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.
