Verizon Wireless is looking at entering the electronic-book market, possibly focusing on areas Amazon's Kindle neglects, such as college textbooks.

The Basking Ridge, N.J.-based company said five companies have approached it about wireless connections for e-readers.

"You're going to see a lot of e-readers out there," said Tony Lewis, who heads an initiative within Verizon. "The interest level is tremendous."

Amazon launched the second version of its Kindle e-book reader a month ago and uses Sprint's wireless network to offer wireless access to a store with 100,000 books.

The Kindle's main competition has been Sony's Reader -- a handheld that has a similar screen meant to imitate the look of paper. But unlike the Amazon handheld, the Reader lacks wireless access so books have to be loaded by connecting it to a computer.

AT&T, the second largest wireless carrier after Verizon Wireless, has also been talking to e-reader manufacturers.

Since AT&T's GSM network is more similar to ones used overseas, it could support international e-book readers. The Kindle can download books only in the U.S.

Just like Verizon Wireless, AT&T is looking for ways to expand the uses of its wireless network beyond mobile phones to generate additional revenue.

Verizon and AT&T have also announced plans to sell netbooks -- smaller scaled-down versions of laptops that typically sell for less than $500.

Tweet

Share

Digg

Post a comment and discuss this story with other readers.