On the heels of Amazon.com taking its Kindle to international markets, Barnes & Noble is venturing into the increasingly popular e-reader market. The Wall Street Journal reported the giant book retailer could roll out an e-reader as early as next month in the U.S.
In what the Journal described as setting the stage for a showdown between Barnes & Noble, Amazon and Sony, the retail chain may launch an e-reader with a six-inch screen from E Ink, which also supplies displays to Amazon and Sony. The device is said to have touch input and a virtual keyboard.
"We have made no announcement about a device," a Barnes & Noble spokesperson told the Journal. "Barnes & Noble believes that readers should have access to the books in their digital  library from any device, anywhere, at anytime."
Price War Coming?
Citing "people briefed on the matter," the Journal said the device will likely use a wireless connection to download books from the online e-book store that Barnes & Noble opened in July. There is no word on how much the device will cost.
Amazon just lowered the price of its Kindle to $259 for the U.S. version and launched a $279 international version this week. It's not clear whether the Barnes & Noble device will support international capabilities, but it is expected to use AT&T's wireless network. The Kindle also uses AT&T.
"Barnes & Noble inevitably had to do this, but it's going to be a tough job to catch up with Amazon because Amazon has a lead that's pretty substantial," said Phil Leigh, a senior analyst at Inside Digital Media. "It will be interesting to see whether this leads to price competition for the Kindle. If Barnes & Nobles comes in at a lower price, it might force some reductions in the Kindle pricing, particularly for the larger model."
E-Reader Market Heating Up
Barnes & Noble isn't just competing against Amazon. In August, Sony introduced two new e-readers that aim to make the devices more affordable. The Reader Pocket Edition is $199.99, and the Reader Touch Edition is $299.99.
Meanwhile, iRex Technologies is planning to release an e-reader that will let users wirelessly download books from anywhere in the world. It will have an 8.1-inch screen and run on Verizon's wireless network. Apple is rumored to be releasing an e-book-friendly tablet computer. Plastic Logic and others are also in the game.
Forrester expects the U.S. market for e-readers will grow from three million devices this year to 13 million devices in 2013. Barnes & Noble isn't willing to lose sales.
"When (Amazon.com CEO Jeff) Bezos announced the Kindle international edition, he also made a comment that when Amazon offers a book in both the Kindle version and the hard-cover version, the sales are almost equal," Leigh said. "That's a significant milestone, and it's a real warning signal to Barnes & Noble, if anything is."
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