Google announced today that starting this Sunday you’ll be able to buy an eReader with direct integration to Google eBooks. The Story HD from iRiver allows you to buy and read books directly from the Google eBookstore over WiFi.
The iriver Story HD, which retails for $139.99, is slim and lightweight with a high-resolution e-ink screen and a QWERTY keyboard for easy searching. It includes over-the-air access to hundreds of thousands of Google eBooks for sale and more than 3 million for free. 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 as you can already do with more than 80 compatible devices.
The Story HD is a new milestone for us, as iriver becomes the first manufacturer to launch an e-reader integrated with Google eBooks. You can learn more about the Story HD on the iriver website.
The Story HD looks like a Kindle form factor that supports EPUB format eBooks. The decisions of eReaders versus tablets just continues growing with more options. We’ll continue watching this industry as different contenders line up their offerings and various features.