First e-reader Google's eBooks platform to hit U.S. stores

Google on Monday announced that the first dedicated e-reader which integrates its eBooks platform will soon hit shelves in the United States. The e-reader, called the iriver Story HD, will be available for sale in Target stores across the United States and online on Target.com starting from July 17 at a retail price of about 140 U. S. dollars, Google said. The product is the first e-reader integrated with the Google eBooks platform, through which users can buy and read electronic books over Wi-Fi. It features high-resolution e-ink screen and a physical keyboard which looks similar to Amazon's popular e-reader Kindle. Google launched its eBooks platform last December, which allows users to read electronic books purchased from Google's online bookstore or other retailers on any device with a Web browser. The company noted that with the iriver Story HD, users will enjoy easy wireless access to hundreds of thousands of Google eBooks for sale and more than 3 million titles 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," Pratip Banerji, a Google product manager, noted in a blog post.