Our friends over at Gates Underwater Products are planning to bring to market an underwater housing for the Sony PRS-300 eBook reader. The new PRS300 housing was created upon request by commercial divers who routinely spend hours on deco stops on the way up from deep dives. Gates is taking deposits; if they get enough, it will bring the overall price of the housing down to $700 (from $1100).

I asked Gates why they are doing a housing for the Sony and not for a Kindle, and they responded that it was a decision made based on the size of the devices.

Message from Gates:

The Gates PRS300 e-Reader housing is a charming new product. It was created on request by Mark Thurlow (a commercial diver) and Robin Jacoway (Tech diver and CEO of Deep Outdoors). They both routinely dive up to 350 ft / 107 mtrs and spend a significant amount of time on deco stops. Staving off boredom hanging from a deco line was the PRS300 housing genesis.

The PRS300 is modest departure from our familiar camera housing designs. We’re keen to bring it to market, but here’s the challenge: we don’t really know the size of the market (yet), nor how many to make. So our plan is accept $100 deposits based on a retail price ranging from $700 at the low end and $1100 on the other. The more deposits, the closer we’ll be to $700. If there is insufficient interest, we will cancel the project and refund all deposits.

All interested folks should contact a Gates dealer or Gates for more info on placing your deposit.