Facing competition in China from Apple, Amazon, and domestic gadget companies, Chinese B2C e-commerce website Dangdang.com announced that it will start pre-sales of its own-branded e-reader product from July 26, 2012.

With a 6-inch display, Dangdang.com's new product will only be available on its official website and the company currently has no plans to launch it via third-party channels. Dangdang.com will reveal details about the new product, including product specifications, functions, and brand name, on July 24.

At the end of 2011, Dangdang.com launched its e-book platform to explore the digital reading sector. After that, rumors swirled that the company will enter the hardware sector to launch e-reader products. In January 2012, Li Guoqing, chief executive officer of Dangdang.com, confirmed that the company will launch its e-reader product.

Statistics provided by Dangdang.com showed that there are about 100,000 e-books available on its platform. Yi Wenfei, head of the digital business of Dangdang.com, told local media that the company has established stable partnerships with upstream publishers which ensures the continuous introduction of quality digital content.

Chinese e-commerce retail rival 360buy.com also recently published its e-book platform and launched PC and mobile client software. 360buy.com said it plans to cooperate with hardware manufacturers to launch reading clients for various mobile devices, including mobile phones, tablets, and handheld readers.