If Amazon thought they’d have the whole ebook reader spotlight today with the launch of the Kindle 2, they’ll be pretty disappointed. Plastic Logic have announced the first content partners for their eponymous Plastic Logic Reader: Fictionwise, the Financial Times, Ingram Digital, LibreDigital, USA Today and Zinio.
After playing with the Plastic Logic Reader at CES earlier this month, even though just a prototype, we’re still excited about what’s possibly the first aesthetically-pleasing ebook reader. However with any device of this nature, appealing hardware is only half of the story: Plastic Logic have been teasing us regarding the identity of their first publishing partners since the Reader’s first announcement, and now they’re promising to tell all come the O’Reilly conference on February 9th.
More demo video of the Plastic Logic ebook reader, this time courtesy of a BBC video interview at the company’s Dresden factory. According to the engineers there, the device – which uses special “plastic microchips” that went into production last month - is still on course for a 2009 release.
Plastic Logic’s recently announced e-newspaper probably suffered, ironically, for looking simply too much like a slick concept rendering. We’re so used to seeing realistic mock-ups that it’s hard to believe something like the 7mm flexible display could actually exist. However TG Daily have some more information and a video of the device in action at DEMO this week, and it’s shaping up to be a real Kindle contender: 8.5 x 11-inches of touchscreen, both WiFi and Bluetooth, and peer-to-peer networking.
Check out the DEMO video of the Plastic Logic e-newspaper after the cut
SlashGear Japan
