Australian users will be able to get their hands on iRiver’s latest e-book reader soon, with the company responsible for selling the devices locally confirming they expect the device will hit the market near the middle of August.
Story HD to launch in Australia mid-August (Credit: iRiver)
The device was announced overnight in the United States and is being promoted as the first ever e-reader to integrate with Google Books — the search giant’s vast archive of books from around the world.
“With the Story HD you can now browse, buy and read Google eBooks with your e-reader through Wi-Fi, rather than downloading and transferring them from computer to e-reader with a cord,” Pratip Banerji, Product Manager for Google Books said in a post announcing the device this morning.
“You can also store your personal ebooks library in the cloud—picking up where you left off in any ebook you’re reading as you move from laptop to smartphone to e-reader to tablet.”
Available from this Sunday in the United States, Australians will have to wait a little longer with a spokesperson for C.R. Kennedy & Co — the Australian company responsible for selling iRiver products locally — confirming that they’ve begun testing the device and anticipate a launch at this stage around mid-August.
“We have just last week received the sample of this soon to be released unit,” a spokesperson told iTech Report this afternoon.
“I anticipate that it will launch to market mid August.”
Update: While you’ll be able to buy the device, implementation may not be completed by the time it launches locally, with a Google Australia spokesperson confirming you’ll need a US account to buy books.
“It’s tied to the US store. So if you bought books in the US and came to AU, you could read those books here, but you couldn’t buy any here, as Google Books (the store) is not yet launched in Australia,” a spokesperson for Google Australia told iTech Report today.
While pricing is not yet known for Australia, in the United States the device will sell for $139.99 outright.
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Google's eBookstore arrives in Australia