Borders to sell iLiad e-book

Borders is to become the first seller of e-book readers in the United Kingdom with seven stores stocking the iLiad reader from Saturday.

The reader will be sold at £399 and will come with 50 e-books preprogrammed, including Hamlet, Frankenstein and Sense and Sensibility. The iLiad will be sold at the Oxford Street and Islington branches in London and the Oxford, Cambridge, Glasgow, Cheshire Oaks and Brighton stores. Borders will begin selling actual e-books from its website following its imminent relaunch.

Borders said that it would see the rate of demand for the iLiad in the seven stores before deciding whether to roll out the device nationwide.

The reader is roughly the size of an A5 sheet of paper, the screen is 12cm by 16cm and it weighs around 400 grams. In addition to reading digital books, it is also possible for a user to read digital documents like PDF or text formats and make handwritten notes and annotations with an included stylus. The reader uses electronic paper, which its makers say is just like reading a normal book.

The reader is produced by iRex Technologies, which is a spin-off company of Dutch electronics giant Phillips. "With this agreement to offer the iLiad Book Edition to Borders customers, we are adding an exciting new device that gives those who are passionate about reading another way to indulge that passion," said Neil Fitton, head of marketing.

Borders has beaten rival Waterstone's to become the first bookseller to sell an e-book device. Waterstone's is expected to stock the Sony Reader when it is launched in the United Kingdom later this year and Amazon's Kindle is widely expected to be launched in the UK this year.