Sony released their latest answer to Amazon’s Kindle last week, The Daily Edition, offering wireless 3G service, wireless syncing and a 7-inch touch screen - which the Kindle lacks. But it still might not be enough to trump Amazon’s highly popular Kindle device. And here’s why.

Let’s use Apple’s iPod as an example. The iPod has now become synonymous with music and Mp3 players around the world. No matter who you ask, almost everyone knows what an iPod is over a Zune or any other Mp3 player from well known brands. Apple took the features already in place, put it in a nice package and called it something that rolls off the tongue easier than, let’s a Samsung CXS-101 (made up name). It’s so easy and well known now, my parents, both of who don’t know anything about gadgets, don’t own a computer or music player, know what an iPod is. They constantly tell my siblings to stop listening to their iPods at home. Imagine my mom having to tell my brother, “stop listening to that Samsung CXS.” Doesn’t sound like it rolls of your tongue now does it? I don’t think so. In terms of name recognition, you don’t get any better than the iPod.

It was in a similar fashion Sony had been on top of the world in the music industry. Their “Walkman” not only offered good features but it had a name that no one else could compete with. The walkman was so popular, everyone around me started calling cassette players, the Walkman. There’s a reason for that. Other companies created cassette players but no one could come up with a name that stuck in the minds of the consumers, even if those companies offered slightly better features or cheaper price.

Now, let’s look at Sony’s new reader, the Daily Edition. It offers similar features to the Kindle, but now with a 7-inch touch screen, in black and open ebook format with a huge marketplace. Pound for pound Sony seems to have the better offering. But what Sony is missing with their latest gadget is name recognition. You know much easier it is to say and remember Kindle, than Daily Edition. Not only that, when someone says Kindle, we already know it belongs to Amazon, which equals books. When someone says Daily Edition, for all we know they could be referring to a newspaper, which isn’t what Sony is trying to sell here, thus not synonymous with books.

If you’ve taken a look at some of the latest gadgets out in the market now, almost all of them offer a full name instead of letters and numbers for devices - Palm Pre, HTC Hero, Blackberry Storm, Blackberry Bold, Dell Adamo, Dell XPS, Macbook Air, Samsung Instinct. It now matters what you call your device because consumers want something easy to say and remember. Plus the easier it is to say, the easier it’ll be for consumers to spread the word, which is the best kind of advertising you can get.

I’ve been asked on the train a number of times about my Kindle, how does it work and if its worth buying? When I tell people it’s better than Sony’s (PRS) 505 model, most of them look at me confused and dazed, like WTF is a Sony PRS 505?. So instead I just tell them, it’s better than other ereaders out in the market.

Sony had their chance when they were the first to release an ereader, the first with a marketplace, but they failed to do what Amazon did, give the users an easy name to remember and easy access to content. It’s probably too late for Sony now, even though I’m excited for the Daily Edition and secretly hope they can give the Kindle a run for its money but Amazon has already ingrained the Kindle in the minds of readers, it’s going to be tough for Sony to change that.

(Via CrunchGear)