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Sony Readers now out of stock on Sony’s website – new T1 Reader coming soon?

Mike Cane noticed earlier today that Sony no longer have their own ebook readers in stock anymore. Right now they’re showing a status as either out of stock or discontinued.

Yes, a couple models (pink 350, red 650) are gone forever, according to SonyStyle.com.

So there’s a good chance that the new T1 ebook reader, the one that showed up at the FCC last week, will make an early appearance. not much is known about the device other than the code name, but it’s supposed to have a microSD card slot, Wifi (n), and a headphone jack.

Let’s see what I can infer from the details. The current and previous Sony Reader models all had 2 card slots, so that microSD card slot is a major change. It suggests that this will be a major hardware revision -the one that ereader advocates have been pining for for the last year or more. It could even put Sony ahead of the competition, depending on what it can do.

Next, the name. Did you catch the significance of the model name? This is the PRS-T1, and all previous Sony Readers had model numbers. The T might stand for tablet, which would suggest that it won’t have an E-ink screen. But the T1 label might also mean that it’s using the same naming convention as the S1, S2 Android tablets. Those are code names, not model names, so the T1 might not be the final name of this ebook reader.

Given that this is probably a major hardware revision, we could be looking at a Mirasol ebook reader. Yeah, yeah, I have an obsession with figuring out which ebook reader maker is working with the Mirasol screen. But that screen has to show up somewhere.

No press event scheduled

I thought it worth noting that Sony haven’t scheduled the launch event for the new Sony Reader. I have been gently bothering the Sony Reader rep for a while now, and I have not gotten even a hint that an event was planned. Even though I believe that a new device is coming, the only definitive sign of its imminent arrival is when Sony throw a press event. Until then the device is little more than a myth.

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Comments


john August 1, 2011 um 12:13 pm

perhaps Sony can’t multitask and is waiting for the S1 and S2 to actually hit the market….


Mike Cane August 1, 2011 um 12:44 pm

In a break from the last models, this one will be made in China, not Japan.


fjtorres August 1, 2011 um 1:09 pm

My take is they will run android, eink, and be tied to the Google ebookstore in the US and Rakuten in Japan.

And nothing with Mirasol will ship this year. (99% confidence)
Or next. (70%)
Possibly never. (25%) 😉


Phil Olynyk August 1, 2011 um 1:36 pm

They are in-stock at www.sonystyle.ca at the usual prices: $250, $200 as of 13:30 on 1 August 2011.

They’ve been there for several days now, although they were out of stock earlier.

Of course, now I will wait to see what is coming before I think about buying anything…


yuzutea August 1, 2011 um 7:59 pm

Hopefully this means they’re going to announce soon.


First look at the new Sony Reader PRS-T1!!! – The Digital Reader August 27, 2011 um 9:01 am

[…] product page for the next Sony Reader, and that means the FCC filing for the new Sony Reader that I found last month has just turned very […]


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