New York ? Sony Corp. plans to offer an e-book reader with the ability to wirelessly download books, injecting more competition in a small but fast-growing market by adopting a key feature of the rival Kindle from Amazon.com.

Sony’s $399 Reader Daily Edition will go on sale by December, Sony executives said Tuesday at an event at the New York Public Library. The device has a 7-inch touch screen and will be able to get books, daily newspapers and other reading material over AT&T Inc.’s cellular network.

Sony has sold e-book reading devices with “electronic ink” displays in the United States since 2006, but has seen most of the attention stolen by Amazon.com Inc., which launched the Kindle with similar e-ink technology a year later. The latest version of the Kindle — which is not controlled by touching the screen — costs $299 and uses Sprint Nextel Corp.’s wireless network for downloads.

On Tuesday, Sony also began selling a “Pocket Edition” e-book reader with a 5-inch screen, for $199, and a larger $299 touch-screen model. Neither has wireless capability, so both have to be connected to a computer to acquire books.