The new credit-card sized Sony NW-HD1 is now available through US retailers like Sony's own Sonystyle and J&R starting at $399.88. Compare Prices in those stores, sure soon more stores to come.

As we reported japanese gadget exporter AudioCubes already shipped the NW-HD1 to the US for $569.00.

To compare a 20GB iPod sells currently for only $284.04 on Amazon.com.
Why Sony thinks they can charge that much more is unclear to me. I thought it is all about getting market share in the portable music player segment back from Apple. I am not sure if over $100 difference is worth the smaller form factor of the Sony NW-HD1. Sony should match the price of the 20GB iPod, than the NW-HD1 becomes a real alternative for consumers.



Sony introduced the iPod competitor on the japanese market on July 10th.