A new color E-Reader / Social Platform device, Copia, priced at $99, will be available this fall. The device will be made by Copia, a subsidiary of DMC Worldwide.
Copia’s device will weigh .42 lbs and feature a 5-inch, 800×480-pixel, color LCD display, 2GB of storage, 64MB of RAM, 2G of Flash Memory.
There will also be a 7-inch color e-reader for $129.99, two 6-inch black-and-white e-readers that closely resemble the Kindle 2 for $149.99 without Wi-Fi and $159.99 with Wi-Fi, and a $299.99 10.1-inch Wi-Fi-enabled color tablet.
The base unit $99 price will undercut Barns & Noble and Amazon pricing by at least $40 – plus add in a social marketing platform.
The new social e-reading platform is also called Copia, This is an e-bookstore and social media network rolled into one, combining the functionality of the Kindle Store, Facebook’s Open Graph and online reading community Goodreads.
Copia allows you to follow and invite people from your existing social networks, like Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads. This will allow you to connect with users with similar tastes. Discussion groups will further enhance the experience, allowing users to interact with fellow readers.
Copia is taking a dive into a crowded market dominated by the Kindle, Nook and iPad. It’s foray includes a good price and the social marketing angle, but will it be enough to get a foothold into the market in another question. Getting into the game a year late may be a killer – Amazon’s and B&N’s price cutting is gaining them marketshare fast. And for all the hype of a $99 eReader – it is a stripped down version – and history has shown such offerings are often tough sells.