The e-book reader market could get more crowded still next year, when a Samsung e-book reader that goes on sale this week in Korea may hit the US market.

As widely reported at sites including CNET, the Samsung SNE-50K has a 5-inch touch screen—making it smaller than the 6-inch screens found on the Kindle 2 and Sony Readers, including the 700C model. It reportedly weighs 6.5 ounces, less than any of those devices, and will sell in Korea for the equivalent of $270, about the same as the Kindle 2 and Sony Reader 505.

With its white plastic case, the device resembles Amazon’s Kindle 2. But the device reportedly lacks the Kindle’s wireless connectivity. It does, however, supposedly boast handwriting recognition to convert memos to typewritten text—a plus no other e-book reader now offers.

It will be next year, at the earliest, before a North American version of the SNE-50K might makes it debut —possibly at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, where Samsung has showed early versions of its e-book readers in the past.

There’s also the Plastic Logic e-book reader, expected to hit the market early in 2010. Announcements of other new or upgraded e-book readers are expected soon, in what’s turning into a busy summer for the digital book devices. —Paul Reynolds.