Early entries into the e-reader market space – including those from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Sony – have focused on books while also accommodating newspapers and magazines. The new Skiff reader, introduced this week, does just the opposite. It has a bigger screen and is designed to make publications more appealing. Unlike the Amazon Kindle and Sony readers, it also has a touch screen. And yes, it’ll read books too.

Amazon’s Kindle has had enough success at selling subscriptions to newspapers and magazines to encourage other hardware makers, but some publishers have expressed displeasure at Kindle’s terms, which give it a hefty chunk of the revenues. More competition in the handheld market for publication subscriptions should result in more favorable terms for publishers.

Unfortunately, the new gadget won’t be available for months. There’s no word as to what it will cost or what terms will be available to publishers for selling their content. So all we really know now