Kindle reader to be rivaled by a co-product of AT&T and Plastic Logic

Plastic Logic announced its partnership with AT&T Inc., which will supply the wireless connection for a touch-screen device it's developing to rival Amazon's Kindle in the electronic-book market. Plastic Logic said that its reader is close in size to Amazon`s newest Kindle DX and will handle PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other native formats used in the business world.

The agreement with AT&T came one day after the Silicon Valley firm signed a deal allowing Barnes & Noble to become the exclusive e-book seller for Plastic Logic's device. Besides, customers will be able to purchase newspapers, magazines and other periodicals once the device becomes available sometime in 2010.

In addition, the Plastic Logic device will be also able to connect to the Internet via WiFi, giving customers faster access to the Internet in homes, offices and wireless "hotspots," while the Kindle allows limited Internet access at regular wireless-networking speeds.

Furthermore, Barnes & Noble is hoping to use its agreement with Plastic Logic as a springboard to challenge Amazon's dominance in the small but rapidly growing e-book market. Analysts calculate Amazon has sold more than 1 million Kindles since the device was introduced in late 2007.