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E-News: Sony Reader in Europe, Frustration with Kindle Licenses, and More

WHSmith and Waterstone's appear to be heading towards a price war on Sony Readers once the latter retailer's exclusive period ends on September 17th. Waterstone's will be selling the new Sony Reader - Touch for £249.99, however the WHS website is selling it for £219. With the Sony Reader - Pocket Waterstone's is taking pre-orders for £179.99 whereas WHS is offering it at £159.The Bookseller

But don't expect the Daily Edition, Sony's touchscreen wireless reader, to be available in the UK anytime soon. Sony did confirm it will be sold there, but that it may take "a year or two."PC ProAt the same event where the new readers were launched, Sony warned the UK book trade that e-book prices are going to have to drop. The Bookseller

The Sony Reader Touch and Pocket Editions will be also sold in the Netherlands through BOL.com, priced at 299 and 199 Euros, respectively.BOL (via Teleread)

Sony also has come out in favor of the Google Books Settlement, saying in a court filing that the agreement will "foster competition, spur innovation and create efficiencies that will substantially benefit consumers."Bloomberg

Slate's Farhad Manjoo offers his take on Sony's new e-reader and offers a slew of bulletpoint lessons for Amazon's competitors on "how to beat the Kindle": ramp up the features, emphasize service over the device, and embrace open-source.Slate
Add one more company to the e-reader mix, as Asus sets to introduce one under its Eee PC brand by year's end.Wired

Discovery Communications, which launched a patent infringement lawsuit against Amazon and the Kindle earlier this year (Amazon then countersued in May on similar grounds), filed a patent for "an electronic device that lets people read and buy books" earlier this year, but it only showed up this week.TechFlash
And in their quest to get more information about the vagaries of Kindle licenses, Consumerist receives very vague answers from Amazon on that front.Consumerist