Barnes & Noble launches e-bookstore, partners with Plastic Logic on e-reader
Barnes & Noble, the supersize bookseller, launched the Barnes & Noble eBookstore, a buy-and-download site for digital versions of books that are meant to be read on smartphones and laptops.
The eBookstore’s titles are readable on a wide range of platforms, starting with Windows and Mac desktop and laptop computers. But the eBookstore goes beyond that, with support for iPhone and BlackBerry screens.
The store’s pricing is more aggressive than previous e-book ventures. B&N claims there are currently 700,000 titles available for $9.99, keeping in line with an Amazon user campaign to make $10 the price of a full-length book.
Barnes & Noble has also partnered with Plastic Logic, maker of a slim display meant for reading large amounts of text. It’s worth noting that while the New York Times has partnered with Amazon to deliver content to the new outsize Kindle XL, the newspaper’s staff seem more enamored of the Plastic Logic reader, a not-yet-available device that’s slimmer and sexier than the Kindle. Below is a Plastic Logic demo from last year’s DEMO conference.
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About the Author, Paul Boutin
Paul (paul@venturebeat.com) covers Apple & the iPhone, social networks & social media, digital music & video, and any crazy Internet story. Paul wrote and edited for Valleywag from 2006-2008, after several years with Wired magazine and Slate. He writes regularly for The New York Times' technology section and sometimes for Wired and The Wall Street Journal. He studied computer science at MIT in the early 1980s, and worked as a software developer and network administrator for 15 years before becoming a professional writer. Follow him on Twitter at @paulboutin, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.
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