Barnes & Noble jumps into e-Book market, reveals e-Reader

Many big companies have already entered into the e-Reader department, most notably Amazon and Sony. Apparently Barnes & Noble have been working on e-Reader designs for quite some time now, and images and product information are finally beginning to surface. Barnes & Noble has already announced a product event slated for next Tuesday, October 20. All reports indicate that B&N will announce the anticipated e-Reader.

At first, it was thought the device would contain special e-ink color technology, but all text and images will still be in black and white, similar to the Amazon Kindle. However, the reader will contain multi-touch technology, similar to that of the iPhone. Now, you have to imagine that B&N would not be just creating an e-Reader without having other ways of creating revenue. They will be offering the books they publish for deeper discounts, probably to sway on-the-fence e-Reader customers towards the B&N device. Why not throw Google Books into the mix? The e-Reader should also have unlimited access to books in the Google Books database, which aren’t current, but better than nothing.

Based on the images provided, the device looks to have a fairly big screen, with the virtual QWERTY keyboard only taking up about 20%-30% of the actual device. Interestingly enough, it has a physical light on the top which can be turned on or off by a switch. I suppose additional light plus the backlight would definitely ensure readers will not have to strain their eyes to see the text.

The obvious advantage B&N would have over the Amazon Kindle is the fact that they have many physical brick-and-mortar stores over the United States. In fact, where I live, everyone knows of B&N, as they have a high distinction. They can use this to their advantage to encourage people to purchase books from within their stores for cheaper, as well as through 3G/WiFi. Maybe they could even institute monthly fees that allows a for a certain amount of books to be “checked out” from their physical stores. Of course, we will only learn more information when their event rolls around next week.

Read [Gizmodo]