Borders launching iLiad e-book reader

New "Book Edition" to beat Kindle to UK market

7 May 2008 16:59 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Borders has announced that it has teamed up with Philips off-shoot iRex Technologies to sell the newly introduced iLiad Book Edition e-book reader in some of its stores.

Borders will be the first high street retailer in the UK to showcase the product, which has already had a high-profile launch in Holland.

"Here at Borders we are firmly committed to delivering the best range, the best browsing environment and best customer experience in the marketplace", said Neil Fitton, head of marketing for Borders, who has no doubt been cheered by the apparent success of Amazon's Kindle e-book reader in the US.

With a high contrast electronic paper display with a lightweight, form factor and durable design, the iLiad, roughly A5 in size has an 8.1-inch screen and weighs 389 grams.

The electronic paper display technology offers a 180 degree viewing angle and claims to allow readers to read digital books as if they were printed on regular paper - but with the bonus of carrying around a large number of books stored in its memory.

The iLiad's standard memory allows for up to around a 100 books and is expandable via external memory card (MMC or CF) to 8GB, enough to hold more than 10,000 books.

The iLiad supports PDFs, HTML and TXT as well as the Mobipocket format. There are currently more than 58,000 electronic books available in the Mobipocket format, from the latest bestsellers to the classics.

Depending on the usage, the iLiad's battery will allow you to read for between 10 and 15 hours although making handwritten notes and annotations with the stylus drains power faster.

The iLiad Book Edition costs £399, will include 50 pre-loaded e-book "Classic" titles and will be available in the following Borders stores: Oxford Street and Islington in London, Oxford, Cambridge, Glasgow, Cheshire Oaks and Brighton from Saturday 10 May.