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Last updated: Monday, December 7, 2009

With more than two weeks left in the Christmas-shopping season, Barnes & Noble’s nook e-reader went on sale Monday. The petite electronic book reader from the giant bookselling retail chain is being watched carefully for its impact on the growing e-book industry — and for its sales performance compared to its main competitor, Amazon’s Kindle. The nook was formally announced in late October, when Barnes & Noble proudly touted its various firsts. These included being the first Android-based e-book reader, the first to offer a color touchscreen, and the first to offer free 3G wireless connectivity on the AT&T network and Wi-Fi within Barnes & Noble stores. ‘Digital Lending’ The company also noted that nook is the first e-book readers to provide “digital lending.” The device’s LendMe technology allows an owner to lend a variety of e-books free, for up to two weeks, just by choosing the book and sending it to a friend’s device. The friend’s device, which would use Barnes & Noble’s free eReader software, could be another nook, an iPhone, an iPod touch, some BlackBerry and Motorola smartphones, or a Mac or PC. Just as lending your book would mean you can’t read it, that book becomes locked on the nook when lent out. There is only one two-week lending period per friend, per lent book. Only some books have lending rights. Other features include a virtual bookmark that returns the reader to the place left off in the last book being read. The bookmark works on the eReader software on a user’s other devices, and bookmarks can be updated when the user returns to reading on the nook. The initial reaction to the nook has been mixed. In addition to features such as book lending, some industry observers are praising the navigational touchscreen, compared to the buttons and joystick on…

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Barnes & Noble Begins Selling Nook as Industry Watches

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