The competition in the e-reader field seems to be picking up. In the States, at least.

Sony’s new Daily Edition is aiming to take on Amazon’s Kindle with its 3G connectivity and touch screen, but it will have to provide an acceptable face for DRM, with library lending and open standards.

The Daily Edition will be available in the US come December, and includes 3G GSM connectivity that will allow users to download books and magazine subscriptions over the air, removing the unique selling point of Amazon’s Kindle while also boasting about open standards and interoperability.

Now, if they can get that over here and established before Apple comes out with it’s purported all-beating tablet, then I’ll be in very interested. For the reasons I’ve mentioned before: I quite like reading, and I really like reading on the move. Papers leave smudges all over the place, and books are too big to bring more than about half a dozen with you at any one time. And that is just unfortunate – how is a man supposed to get away with that puny amount of reading material?

So a device that doubles as a massive portable library and an automatically updating newspaper is to be welcomed. If only they bring it over here before the bloody Apple lot get in on their game with their inevitably well marketed but somewhat silly product…

In case you didn’t notice, I have yet to find an Apple product that I’d be happy to own. Because I don’t like Apple. At all.