It appears Sony was awake after all.  They have completely revised their line of Readers, giving WiFi to their top of the line model, dumping their old overlay screens that provided touch control but were washed-out in contrast.  Replacing the overlay is the use of infrared scans to determine where your fingers are on the screen and what they are doing.  This is a major improvement.

The picture below shows the larger Daily Edition on the left, the Kindle 3 in the middle and the Pocket Edition on the right.

Also, Sony has adopted the new Pearl E-Ink technology which makes for more contrast.  The two most popular models, the Touch Edition and the Pocket Edition have slimmed down.  The Pocket Edition has kept its five inch screen, but it now has 16-level gray scale instead of the older 8-scale.

All are good moves by Sony.  They certainly plan on staying in the game.

On the down side, all the new readers come with higher prices.  The Pocket Edition jumps from $149 to $179 and is without expanded memory options or WiFi.  The Touch Edition is $229 and without WiFi, but with expanded memory options.  The Daily Edition is not yet available for delivery.

For a more detailed review, follow this link.