The Daily Edition may miss its deadline

On the home page of Sony's new Reader Daily Edition, there's a note that says, "Pre-orders will ship Dec. 18 thru Jan. 8. Actual delivery date cannot be guaranteed." That's not good news for those who'd planned to give it as a Christmas present.

"We're deeply concerned we won't have enough to get them under the Christmas tree, so we're giving a range and telling people up front that we may not get to everybody over Christmas. We may be able to do it. We just don't want to over-promise," Steve Haber, president of Sony's digital reading division, told the Financial Times.

The $400 Daily Edition follows the smaller Pocket Edition and Touch Edition, which are being marketed as e-book readers. Sony says that the Daily Edition's big screen is ideal for reading the larger formats of newspapers and magazines.

The Daily Edition also has permanent wireless connectivity for downloads, just like Amazon's Kindle. Sony is still "in discussions" with content partners. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, owner of The Wall Street Journal, seems certain to be one of them.

Neither Amazon nor Sony is issuing sales figures for its e-reader. Sony said in January 2009 that it had sold a total of 400,000 during the previous two years, but it has said nothing since. Forrester Research is predicting sales of three million units for the e-reader industry this year.