Ereader manufacturer iRex files for bankruptcy

With competition in the growing ereader segment continuing to intensify, Dutch manufacturer iRex Technologies has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing lackluster sales. A spinoff of Royal Philips Electronics, iRex first launched the iLiad ereader unit in 2006--in September 2009, Verizon Wireless announced an agreement to power its iRex DR800, an 8.1-inch touchscreen device with connections to Barnes & Noble for digital books and NewspaperDirect for periodicals. Slated to go on sale at Best Buy stores for $399, the ereader faced multiple delays and missed the lucrative 2009 holiday shopping season, finally surfacing earlier this year. Publishers Weekly notes that iRex CEO Hans Brons blames the firm's financial perils on its struggles to secure FCC approvals for the DR800.

Despite iRex's fate, ereader services continue to flourish in the U.S. Earlier this month, Target began selling online retail giant Amazon.com's Kindle ereader across all of its 1,740 U.S. retail locations--Amazon reports the Kindle Store now boasts more than 500,000 titles, and the device is the company's best-selling item overall. Earlier this week, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said that in the days following the release of its rival iPad tablet, consumers have purchased more than 5 million titles for its iBooks ereader application, an average of 2.5 titles per iPad.

For more on iRex's troubles:
- read this Publishers Weekly article

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