Rakuten to launch e-reader, e-book service

go Mickey, enough of the beast of Seattle

E-reader market getting pretty crowded. Something's gotta give.

hopes will transform Rakuten into a global player in digital commerce.

Good luck with that.

"More than 80 percent of Japan’s 94 million Internet users already have an account on Rakuten’s ecommerce site"

I doubt that very much.

how much u want to bet this thing fails terribly

The success or failure of this will depend on whether content follows. If publishing companies get on board, this will be a great success, because consumers will just have to try the devices to fall in love with them. I used to be a skeptic until I got myself a Kobo ereader. Now I read almost exclusively on it.

It would become even bigger if it could get manga published digitally. The devices can do it, and since most mangas are in black and white, the screen has no problem with them.

Nothing innovative here, just following the crowd in a crowded market.