Sony launches free e-book app to contend with iBooks

The e-book market on iOS is pretty crowded. There’s Apple’s iBooks, of course, and then there’s Amazon’s Kindle app and Nook by Barnes and Noble. And all of these services have extremely large e-book offerings and millions of users.

But apparently that isn’t enough to stop Sony from throwing its hat into the ring. The electronics giant released its own free e-book app in the App Store today, entitled Reader — eBooks from Sony, for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch…

Some of the app’s notable features are:

  • A natural, book-like reading experience
  • Intuitive navigation makes using the app as easy as the turn of a page
  • Adjustable font size and contrast to customize your reading preferences (sayonara, spectacles!)
  • Leave your mark! Create and edit bookmarks as you read
  • Access to your Reader library to read new purchases and old favorites
  • Personalized collections and library organization
  • Option of Day and Night reading modes

The app works with Sony’s own Reader e-book store, which has an impressive selection. But unfortunately, as with other third party e-book apps, you have to purchase new books from your computer or another device. Apple’s rule.

While it’s not nearly as popular as Amazon’s Kindle, Sony has made and sold a number of e-book tablets. So there should be at a least a small group of folks that will be happy to see an official Reader client finally hit the iOS platform.

And if you happen to fall into that category, you can find Reader — eBooks from Sony in the App Store for free.