I’ve been closely watching the online buzz generated by Barnes & Nobles announcement regarding their eBookstore. When I first read about it, I never thought it would create that huge noise. But it did. And the reason of course is because of the fact that it is being touted as Amazon’s biggest rival yet. For one thing, B&N is one of the major players in the traditional book publishing/distribution market.So what does Barnes & Nobles has to offer to the eBook market? There’s quite a few actually, including the following:
- access to 700,000 titles including new titles and bestsellers for $9.99 per title
- more than a half-million public domain books from Google, which can be downloaded for free
- an upgraded version of its eReader application, which supports both wireless and wired access to the new Barnes & Noble eBookstore including apps for the iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows and Macdesktops or laptops
- free download of eBooks, including titles such as Merriam-Webster’s Pocket Dictionary,Sense and Sensibility, Little Women, Last of the Mohicans, Pride and Prejudice, and Dracula
- partnership with Plastic Logic, makers of an eReader device which is set to launch in 2010 – this is being touted as the Kindle rival
- The free, full-featured B&N Bookstore app for iPhone and iPod touch users, which is now the #1 downloaded book app in Apple’s App Store
Looks interesting right? The killer here will be Barnes & Nobles tie up with Plastic Logic. Once Plastic Logic’s eReader device comes out, then Amazon has something to worry about. Amazon also has an iPhone/iPod Touch app so they have this niche covered.
In the meantime, you might want to check out Barnes & Nobles eBookstore and see for yourself whether it has the right to challenge Amazon’s ebookstore business. Quite frankly, the service is actually good.