As Sony Corp. (SNE) scrambles to reassert its technological relevance, Chief Executive Howard Stringer is betting on a strategy for the electronics giant that focuses on adding online content to more of its gadgets.

Speaking at the first joint public appearance by Sony’s new management team since a shake-up in February, Mr. Stringer said the Japanese giant is “moving faster than we’ve ever moved” to meet parallel challenges.

Sony is racing to close the gap with technology companies like Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) that have used Internet services to enhance standalone electronics like digital-music players and electronic-book readers. Sony was a pioneer in both only to see it early advantage evaporate without a strong online component.

At the same time, Sony is trying to overhaul its core electronics division, a business encumbered by heavy overhead costs and an inefficient supply chain. This has put the company at a disadvantage to both conglomerates like Samsung Electronics Co. and upstarts like discount TV maker Vizio Inc.

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With Amazon’s (AMZN) Kindle, readers can squeeze hundreds of books into a device that is smaller than most hardcovers. For some, that’s not small enough.

Many people who want to read electronic books are discovering that they can do so on the smartphones that are already in their pockets–bringing a whole new meaning to “phone book.”

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Two high-profile electronic-book readers seeking to challenge Amazon.com Inc.’s (AMZN) Kindle could be scarce under the Christmas tree.

Sony Corp. (SNE) Wednesday said orders for its new Daily Edition Reader–which the company said in August would arrive in time for the holidays–are now expected to ship Dec. 18 through Jan. 8. It added that the actual delivery date can’t be guaranteed.

Barnes & Noble Inc. (BKS), which is racing to enter the market with an e-reader called Nook, last week said the latest orders for the product will ship Dec. 18, though it stated it expects those products to arrive by Christmas.

The projections, which both companies linked to strong demand, underscore the difficulties of forecasting orders and coordinating a supply chain that includes component makers, manufacturing services and others.

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Matching a recent move by Wal-Mart (WMT), Amazon.com (AMZN) has unveiled a new promotion on Research in Motion (RIMM) BlackBerry phones, giving buyers of certain models who sign up for new 2-year plans free $100 “e-gift cards.” The deal runs from November 14 through November 20. The gift cards will be mailed automatically 6 weeks after the phones are purchased.

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Peek, a New York mobile start-up, has begun selling TwitterPeek, a new device for posting and reading Twitter updates.

TwitterPeek became available on Amazon (AMZN) and Peek’s Web site Tuesday. Its $100 price includes a full keyboard, always-on tweet delivery and nationwide Internet coverage, plus six months of service. After that, service costs $8 a month, but there is no contract. An alternate lifetime plan, without monthly charges, costs $200.

Peek sells other handheld devices that aren’t cellphones, including the Peek Classic and Peek Pronto, which are designed for emailing and text-messaging but don’t make calls. It’s pitching TwitterPeek as a way to “unleash the thrill of Twitter on the go,” particularly for Twitter users without smart phones.

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So, the race to $0 book prices continues.

As the AP notes this morning, the fierce price cutting in the book business, which until now had focused largely on pre-orders, has now spread to current works: Amazon.com (AMZN) is offering both John Grisham’s short-story collection Ford County and Barbara Kingsolver’s new novel The Lacuna for $9 apiece. Both books are officially being released today. Grisham’s book lists for $24, while the Kingsolver book lists at $26.99.

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Some of the biggest companies backing the Blu-ray format for high-definition movies are hedging their bets by introducing players that can also show Internet video, which is making surprising inroads in the home-entertainment market.

Electronics retailers and manufacturers including Best Buy Co. (BBY), Samsung Electronics America Inc. and LG Electronics USA Inc. are selling Blu-ray disc players that tap into movies from online rental companies. The devices provide an alternative to pay-per-view cable services.

The hybrid movie players tap a growing library of online movies and television shows from Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), which screens movies for as little as 99 cents, and from Netflix Inc. (NFLX), which allows unlimited movie streaming for $8.99 a month.

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Just how long can Amazon (AMZN) put off paying its bills?

It’s no secret that Amazon’s financial success is partly based on its ability to take in money for selling merchandise before it has to pay suppliers for those goods. But lately Amazon has gone one better: steadily lengthening the time it takes to pay suppliers. That has been a factor behind the retailer’s soaring cash flow.

In the third quarter, for instance, Amazon stretched out its bill-payment to 72 days, up from 63 in the year-earlier period. As Behind The Numbers analyst Brian Evans notes, this “theoretically means that Amazon has not paid suppliers for sales consummated in mid-June.” Amazon’s sales rose 28 percent in the quarter, but accounts payable nearly doubled, helping push free cash flow up 116 percent to $696 million.

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Amazon.com (AMZN) has ended a trial program to sell wine online, the company confirmed.

The wine sales pilot, which the e-commerce giant launched last year, was intended to sell wine from California’s Napa Valley and other U.S. regions.

An Amazon spokesman declined to give details about why the company ended the program.

The end of the program may have been related to financial troubles at partner New Vine Logistics, which had been tapped to handle shipments for Amazon. Over the summer, that company suspended operations amid financial problems, but then later got new investment from Inertia Beverage Group.

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A new electronic book reader is expected Tuesday from book seller Barnes & Noble Inc. (BKS) that will challenge readers from Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and Sony Corp. (SNE) with a color touch-screen and $259 price, according to a planned ad for the device.

The price for the reader, called the Nook, matches that of Amazon’s Kindle. The Kindle controls about 60 percent of the burgeoning e-book market, according to Forrester Research.

Details of the reader appear in a full-page advertisement viewed by The Wall Street Journal in the New York Times Book Review section dated Sunday, Oct. 25. The advertisement says the Nook will enable its owners to “Lend eBooks to friends.”

A spokeswoman for Barnes & Noble declined to comment.

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The rising popularity of electronic book readers such as Amazon.com Inc.’s (AMZN) Kindle bodes well for Taiwanese electronics companies that make the key components and are investing to grab an early lead in the market.

Taiwan’s long history in manufacturing consumer electronics, its aggressive low-cost strategy and closer ties with China gives the island’s companies an advantage over Japanese and South Korean peers, analysts say.

Liquid-crystal-display makers AU Optronics Corp. (AUO) and Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp. and e-paper maker Prime View International Co. are hoping that the shift to digital books will help boost their revenue in the long term and help them diversify into other segments.

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The e-reader is going home-shopping for the holidays.

Shortly after Amazon (AMZN) cut the price of its Kindle e-reader, Interead, maker of the rival Cool-er device, said it has signed on with home-shopping network QVC to help it launch Cool-er in the U.S.

QVC will offer the e-reader, at an undisclosed price, as part of its “Today’s Special Value” program, commonly referred to as “TSV,” in early December.

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When the University announced its Kindle e-reader pilot program last May, administrators seemed cautiously optimistic that the e-readers would both be sustainable and serve as a valuable academic tool. But less than two weeks after 50 students received the free Kindle DX e-readers, many of them said they were dissatisfied and uncomfortable with the devices.

On Wednesday, the University revealed that students in three courses–WWS 325: Civil Society and Public Policy, WWS 555A: U.S. Policy and Diplomacy in the Middle East, and CLA 546: Religion and Magic in Ancient Rome–were given a new Kindle DX containing their course readings for the semester. The University had announced last May it was partnering with Amazon.com, founded by Jeff Bezos ’86, to provide students and faculty members with the e-readers as part of a sustainability initiative to conserve paper.

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Amazon.com (AMZN), which wants to be the Internet’s general store, is adding one more category to the range of private label products it sells online: electronics accessories.

The “Amazon Basics” line launched on Saturday with products like audio-video cables and blank DVDs–all sourced and designed by the e-commerce company. Amazon says its range will grow but its focus, for now at least, is on inexpensive accessories, not TVs and other high-end gadgets. (One exception, of course, is Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader, which it launched in 2007.)

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Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) is quietly expanding its private-label business in a bid to diversify away from its online bookstore roots and become more like a general retailer.

The latest sign: The Seattle-based e-commerce giant–known for high-tech innovations like one-click checkout and the Kindle e-reader–last month received a U.S. design patent for a wooden chopping block.

The $24.99 Pinzon bamboo cutting board is being sold as part of a line of Amazon’s own kitchen products on its Web site. It features two surfaces, one flat and the other curved. A curved blade, designed for chopping herbs, is stored inside the block.

In June Amazon launched a new collection of private-label kitchen utensils, designed by Seattle Chef Tom Douglas and sold under his name.

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