OSAKA (Kyodo) Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., publisher Kadokawa Group Holdings Inc. and Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc. said Tuesday they will jointly set up a firm to sell electronic books.
When the company, Words Gear Co., is founded next Monday, it will launch a portal site through which content, including novels and comics, can be downloaded. Matsushita will market a terminal with which to read such content within this year.
The pocketsize Matsushita terminal, Words Gear, will have a 5.6-inch display and will use an SD card for storage. It can be operated easily with just one finger and users can play music with it while reading, Matsushita officials said.
The price has yet to be decided.
Matsushita aims to sell about 10,000 units of the portable electronic book reader by March.
E-books are regarded as a new hot-growth area.