Following price cuts from the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes & Noble Nook, Sony last week quietly lowered the prices on its Reader e-reader hardware as well.

The Reader Pocket Edition, the cheapest model, is now $149.99, down from $169.99. Sony has priced the Touch Edition at $169.99, versus an earlier price of $199.99, and the Daily Edition now costs $299.99, down from $349.99.

On July 1, Amazon cut the price of its Kindle DX e-reader from $489 to $379, just days after Amazon lowered the price of its standard Kindle e-reader from $259 to $189. That pricing move took place the same day as rival Barnes & Noble launched a $149 Wi-Fi only version of its Nook and lowered the price of its 3G Nook by $259 to $199.

Borders, meanwhile, has chosen its Kobo e-reader, coupled with a $20 gift card, to fight back in the e-reader price war.

News of the price cuts first appeared on the MobileRead forums.