San Diego - Sony (NYSE: SNE) announced on Thursday that its Reader Digital Book devices will be the first to support the EPUB format, an XML-based standard format from the International Digital Publishing Forum. Starting next month, PRS-505 model Reader devices will support EPUB, as will as Adobe eBooks and the BBeB formatted books offered at the Sony eBook Store. "The Reader is an open device and we will continue to explore formats that will provide the widest variety of content for Reader users," said Steve Haber, senior vice president of consumer product marketing for Sony Electronics. "This upgrade opens the door to a whole host of paid and free content from third-party eBook stores, web sites and even public libraries."

New York - Publisher Simon & Schuster announced on Friday that it plans this year to make 5,000 additional titles available for the Kindle, Amazon's (NASD: AMZN) eBook reader device. The move will double the publisher's commitment to the service, which was launched in November and currently counts some 125,000 available titles.

Los Angeles - Amazon's (NASD: AMZN) recently introduced Kindle electronic e-book reader device now accounts for 6% of titles sold through the site -- or an estimated 125,000 units, chief executive Jeff Bezos said on Wednesday at the All Things D conference, PaidContent reported. The $359 Kindle also features wireless Web access, a Web browser, and delivery of newspapers, magazines and blogs in addition to books.

New York - Sony (NYSE: SNE) on Thursday launched eStories, a new section of its eBook Store that will feature more than 1,000 short stories from American authors, including Philip K. Dick, Mike Resnick and R.L. Stine. The eStories, which can be read on a PC or Sony's Reader digital book device, will be priced from $0.99 to $1.99 each and sell from both Sony's eBook Store and Borders Online eBook Store.

Chatham, N.J. - Fictionwise, an independent eBook retailer, announced this week that it has acquired the eReader.com eBook retail business unit of mobile content distributor Motricity.

San Diego - Sony Electronics on Tuesday introduced its second-generation Reader Digital Book, which will go on sale for $300 later this month at Borders stores and from Sony's website.

Los Angeles - Sony plans to close its Connect digital music and video store, resulting in the loss of about 20 jobs at the company in Los Angeles, PaidContent.org reported.