Google will provide Sony with some 500,000 copyright-expired titles for its e-book Reader, giving both companies the chance to take jabs at Amazon and Kindle. Sony can claim that it has a much-larger library and is more open; Google gets prime placement at the Sony eBook store and a boost in positive (it hopes) publicity for Google Book Search. Each is emphasizing open platform, a dig at Amazon and its proprietary Kindle format. Take this statement from Steve Haber, president of the Digital Reading Business Division at Sony Electronics: “We have focused our efforts on offering an open platform and making it easy to find as much content as possible - from our store or others - whether that content is purchased, borrowed or free.” And this from Google’s Adam Smith: “We believe in an open platform for accessing and reading books, and we’re excited to partner with Sony to help bring these public domain books to more people.” 

Amazon has been building its sale catalog steadily since Kindle’s launch—to more than 245,000 as of today, compared with Sony’s 100,000 or so. Sony now can boast that it offers more than 600,000. With the electronic readers priced in a similar range (Sony’s PRS-505 is about $300 and a price cut today puts its PRS-700 model slightly less then Kindle at $350), including the free books might sound like an advantage to Sony—especially in these frugal days. But the Kindle as a device isn’t a walled garden. [via paidcontent]