BenQ is the latest to throw its hat into the increasingly crowded ebook reader market. It just unveiled the nReader with plans to launch it in Asia in January 2010. BenQ will then gradually expand availability with the aim to sell 300,000 units globally by the end of 2010.
The nReader will come with a 6-inch touchscreen e-ink grayscale display, 2GB of internal memory, 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi, a 3.5mm audio jack, a microSD card slot (supporting cards up to 16GB), and a 1530mAh battery. It will support the ePub, PDF, HTML and TXT text formats and JPG for images. It will also be able to play MP3 files.
BenQ did not shed any light on any content strategy. Will it offer its own ebook store or will it partner with someone else? What other content will be available?
BenQ also confirmed plans to offer colour ebook readers in the second half of 2010.
The BenQ nReader will sell in Taiwan for NT$8,990 (about US$280).