Consumer electronics giant Sony is to launch an app for iOS and Android devices that will allow access to its e-books store. The strategy is seen as a way of driving customers to its store, but also building the ecosystem for its e-reader devices, a market it has recently re-entered. Sony was a leader in the e-reader devices space when the market was in its infancy, but has since been overtaken by the likes of Apple’s iPad and Amazon’s Kindle. 

The ‘Sony Reader Store’ app is expected to be available from December. The app will allow users to purchase books via a smartphone or to read books purchased using the PC software. Other features include the ability to make bookmarks, take notes, adjust fonts and highlight text. More details here.

The new apps strategy comes at a time when Sony is looking to regain lost ground in the e-books market. According to an Associated Press report, Sony announced this week it is to launch new e-readers in Japan for the first time since 2007. Its two new devices, ‘Reader Pocket Edition’ and ‘Reader Touch Edition’, will be available from next month costing JPY20,000 (US$240) and JPY25,000 (US$300), respectively.

Sony will also open a digital bookstore for the device in Japan as it has elsewhere, offering downloads of around 20,000 titles. The group hopes to sell 300,000 e-readers in Japan in the first year and expects a 50 percent market share by 2012. The new e-readers have already been launched in Australia, China, Italy, Spain and the US.