OSAKA (Kyodo) -- Panasonic Corp. said Friday it will launch an e-book reader handset on Aug. 10 with a price tag of 34,800 yen.
The UT-PB1, which can only be purchased via Panasonic's web store, will offer an electronic book distribution service provided by online shopping operator Rakuten Inc.
Having a 7-inch color liquid-crystal display, the e-book reader is equipped with 16 kinds of applications such as e-mail and a camera, Panasonic said.
Rakuten announced Friday it will begin its e-book service on Aug. 10, offering more than 10,000 titles at first for Panasonic's e-book reader.
The company also plans to start offering the service to smartphones by the end of this year.
