Borders is in trouble. At least as far as the e-reader business is concerned. It did have the cheapest e-book reader on the market just a couple of months ago but Amazon turned the market upside down by introducing Kindle WiFi and putting it up for sale for $139. That move essentially took away all the advantages that those cheap e-readers such as Kobo had. The only move left for Borders was to drop its e-readers’ prices yet again, which happened on Tuesday. Kobo Reader and Libre are now up for grabs for $129 and $99 respectively. E-book reader prices may be coming down but not all will survive the future price wars.

We’re committed to making it as easy as possible for all Borders customers to enjoy eReading… As the demand for e-readers grows, we believe it is important to provide accessibility to a variety of devices. By reducing the price of our best-selling digital devices, we’re enabling even more Borders customers to purchase eReaders at a great value,

The LCD-based e-readers do not get as much love as Kindle and other E-ink devices from e-book addicts. They may be harder to read books on (feel like reading on a laptop). But there are a few of them that are worth a serious look. Toshiba Libretto is one of those devices. It is a dual-screen tablet that runs Windows 7 and has a processor that packs a punch. It has plenty of RAM and is fully capable of handling those HD videos. What’s fun about this product is the fact that you can stretch your window across both displays or tackle two different windows at the same time.

Sony may have been a major player in the e-book reader market a few years ago, but it is tough to argue that the company is still relevant with Amazon, B&N, and Apple going hard at grabbing more market-share in this business. The Japanese company is not going to go away quietly. It has revamped its Pocket Edition, Touch Edition and Daily Edition models to give them a better chance to compete with other e-readers on the market. For starters, these e-readers will cost $179, $229 and $299 respectively. They will also have touch-screen displays, setting them apart from Kindle 3 and B&N Nook.

Not interested in buying Amazon Kindle from Amazon.com? You can always try one of those Staples stores. Staples has reached an agreement with Amazon to stock Kindle in its 1500+ stores around the nation. That means soon there will be more ways for people to discover and buy Kindles. The move is another blow to Kindle competitors such as B&N’s nook. Amazon has not only put pressure on B&N by dropping its Kindle prices to new lows, it is now going to target physical retailers to tighten the screws on its rivals in the e-reader market.

Since Amazon started pushing Kindle hard, we have been on the company’s case for selling e-books for too high of a price. Those $9.99 e-books do save people money, considering that hard-cover books sell for much more than that. At the same time, people can’t lend Amazon e-books, nor can they sell them. When a few publishers announced e-book price hikes, that further aggravated e-book fans. After all, how do publishers expect to charge $14.99 for e-books when they cost much less to publish in comparison to regular books. Could Wired.com be right about consumers overestimating cost savings for e-book publishers?

Publishers do price ebooks a little higher than necessary, because they’re concerned about devaluing people’s perception of books. They’re worried that if they sell the digital editions for too little, they’ll have to lower prices for the paper editions as well, which would undercut their main source of revenue,

A while ago, news broke out about Amazon reaching a deal with Wylie Agency to distribute the work of its clients through Kindle store. Random House was not too happy about the exclusive deal, nor were some of Amazon’s competitors. Unfortunately for Amazon, the deal seems to have fallen through. It seems Random House was able to convince Wylie Agency to back out of the deal. After all, the company was ready to boycott future works by the agency:

The Wylie Agency’s decision to sell e-books exclusively to Amazon for titles which are subject to active Random House agreements undermines our longstanding commitments to and investments in our authors, and it establishes this agency as our direct competitor

Amazon has removed the titles in discussion from Kindle store. They are expected to make their way back to Amazon Kindle store in the near future (according to a statement delivered by Random House):

While we have not been super impressed with Kindle 3′s specifications, it is still the best stand-alone e-book reader around. The improved screen and battery life make it much easier for book fans to put their trust in this device. Amazon has been adding more e-book titles to its database, so Kindle owners have plenty of content to consume on their devices too.

Kindle 3 is not perfect though. It can be improved in many areas, including but not limited to:

• document support
• alternative power sources (e.g. solar)
• better storage
• removable battery
• better web experience
• Kindle software