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Sony has finally set a launch date for its e-book reader in Germany: the Sony Reader PRS-505 will be sold from 11th March in a joint partnership with wholesaler Libri and Thalia, Germany's largest book chain, the latter of which will become Sony's premium supplier to consumers. The device will sell at a recommended price of €299 (about £265). Pre-orders will be taken online both from Libri for its trade customers and Thalia as of now.
In contrast to the UK where Waterstone’s had an exclusive option for two weeks, and France where Fnac sold the reader exclusively for a period of six months, the reader will be available to all German booksellers from day one, but Thalia will be Sony’s premium bookshop partner. Thalia intends to offer the reader in all of its 230 branches; e-books will be marketed as "the fifth sales channel" in addition to hardbacks, paperbacks, DVD and audio books. They will be available for purchase from www.thalia.de.
Libri, which will organise and host the range of e-books for the Sony Reader said it would have "thousands of titles" available on launch day in the ePub format, including the latest bestsellers from Ken Follett, Christopher Paolini and Henning Mankell. The reader will come with two pre-installed novels by German novelists Daniel Glattauer and Silvia Roth and extracts from several bestsellers.