Sharp to Sell Its Own E-Reader

Sharp (SHCAY) is stepping into the e-book market, gearing up to offer e-reader devices and enhancing its XMDF technology platform to allow audio and video to also be seen on the devices, the electronics giant announced Tuesday. Sharp plans to roll out its next-generation XMDF format and devices later this year.

Sharp is the latest company to enter the e-book market, playing catchup to Amazon.com's (AMZN) popular Kindle. On Monday, Amazon announced that for every 100 hardback books it sold in the past month, it rang up 180 e-books. Electronics titan Sharp will also be going up against brick-and-mortar bookseller Barnes & Noble's (BKS) e-reader Nook and Apple's (AAPL) highly touted iPad, among others. The competition has already reached a point where e-reader pioneer Amazon.com is having to slash its prices on the devices by 30%.