Barnes & Noble jumps into the eReader market with eBookstore, which offers 700,000 digital books that can be viewed on a variety of mobile devices, computers and eReaders.
Book chain store Barnes &
Noble announced the launch of the Barnes & Noble eBookstore, which the
company claims is the world’s largest, on the company’s Website. The service
enables customers to buy eBooks and read them on a range of platforms,
including the Apple iPhone and iPod touch, BlackBerry smartphones, as well as
most Windows and Mac notebooks or desktops. In addition, Barnes & Noble
announced that it would be the exclusive eBookstore provider on the forthcoming
Plastic Logic eReader device, which is expected to debut next year.
Barnes & Noble’s launch
encompasses more than 700,000 titles retailing for $9.99. The company expects
that its selection will increase to more than one million titles within the
next year, inclusive of every available eBook from every book publisher and
every available eBook original. In addition, the eBookstore offers more than a
half-million public domain books from Google, which can be downloaded for free.
First-time users of the eReader will have the opportunity to download free
eBooks, including helpful and tomes such as Merriam-Webster's Pocket
Dictionary, and classics of
literature including Sense and Sensibility, Little Women, Last of
the Mohicans and Pride and
Prejudice. Tissues are not included
with free Jane Austin downloads.
The company is also offering
an upgraded version of its eReader application, which was part of the company's
Fictionwise (one of the largest electronic book sellers in North America)
acquisition earlier this year. This eBook application supports both
wireless and wired access to the new Barnes & Noble eBookstore, and is
supported by a wide variety of Internet-enabled devices.
Barnes & Noble also
announced a strategic partnership with Plastic Logic, a spin-off company from
Cambridge University's Cavendish Laboratory. Their e-reader, seen as a
competitor to Amazon’s widely publicized (and criticized) Kindle 2 e-reader, is
scheduled to debut in early 2010 after a limited run for select partners later
this year. It will reportedly have a thickness of less than seven millimeters,
a form factor of 8.5-inch by 11-inches and a weight of less than 16 ounces. It
will be capable of displaying Microsoft Office documents and PDF files as well
as eBooks.
The Barnes & Noble
eReader client software provides user-friendly interface to access the eBookstore
and allows users to manage their personal eBook libraries. It features tools
to optimize the reading experience, such as the ability to modify type size and
font and annotate and bookmark text, as well as an auto-scroll feature enabling
users hands-free reading. In addition, users, will be able to access their
eBooks from any of their eBook software-equipped devices, so they can shift
from reading their eBook from a smartphone to a notebook or eReader device.
William J. Lynch, president
of BN.com, said the announcement marks the first phase of the company’s digital
strategy, which is rooted in the belief that readers should have access to the
books in their digital library from any device, from anywhere, at any time. “As
America’s No. 1 bookstore and newsstand, our goal at Barnes & Noble is
to build a service that revolves around the customer, enabling them to have
access to hundreds of thousands of titles and read on their smartphone, PC, and
many other existing and future devices,” he said. “We want to make eBooks
simple, accessible, affordable and convenient for everyone.”
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