I’ve got some good news and some bad news. A new reseller for the Sony DPT-S1 PDF Reader has emerged in the United States. The bad news is they are currently out-of-stock and aren’t selling any at the moment.
At least one person on MobileRead was able to buy one, and without the hassle of having to jump through hoops like the only other official US reseller requires.
The new reseller is now listed on Sony’s product page. The company is called Ease Entertainment Services. You can find the Sony Digital Paper Reader listed on their website.
Last month Sony and Ease Entertainment announced a partnership to use the Sony DPT-S1 Reader in a pilot program with select Hollywood studios. The press release talks about using the devices to streamline the new hire and crew on-boarding process for motion picture and television productions.
It wasn’t specifically stated in the press release that Ease Entertainment would start selling Sony’s new Digital Paper Reader, although it was insinuated. They made it sound like it was only going to be made available in that specific industry.
But Ease Entertainment’s website doesn’t mention any stipulations like that for purchasing, and the person at MobileRead who bought one wasn’t asked anything about it. They just had to pay the $1100 retail price, which with sales tax and shipping totaled just over $1216.
The device isn’t cheap, that’s for sure. But that’s still cheaper than the ridiculous prices people are paying from websites like eBay and Amazon for the imported Japanese version.
Worldox is the other official Sony authorized reseller of the DPT-S1 Reader in the US, but they are very selective of who they will sell the devices too, and they don’t even respond to inquiries about the device most the time. I was told by them that they are only authorized to sell in banking and legal markets. Plus they want to bundle their own services with the PDF Reader, so that adds to the already inflated cost as well.
Hopefully Ease Entertainment will get some more units back in stock and will continue to sell them to anyone who wants to buy one.