Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

Barnes & Noble is expected to launch its electronic reader on Tuesday, only days after the Amazon Kindle was put on sale to the international market.

The device features colour, a touchscreen display and has the same price tag as the Kindle, the Wall Street Journalreported.

The device, which the newspaper said was called "Nook", will compete with the Kindle and Sony's Reader among other electronic readers that allow users to read digital content on a tablet-sized device.

The Journalsaid the details came from a print advertisement slated for the New York Times' October 25th edition.

Barnes & Noble and the New York Timesdid not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A host of competitors are trying to grab market share from Amazon, which is believed to dominate the fast-growing yet still small industry.

The past month has been characterised by a flurry of activity as booksellers, manufacturers, publishers and wireless operators all hope to gain a toehold in advance of the key holiday selling season.

In July, Barnes & Noble, the largest brick-and-mortar bookseller in the United States, debuted what it called the world's largest online digital bookstore with over 700,000 titles, readable on devices like Apple's iPhone.

Analysts say that Barnes & Noble's advantage could be in its physical stores where users will be able to test out the device, as well as its strong relationship with publishers - an advantage that Amazon also enjoys.

With a $259 price tag, the same as the Kindle's recently lowered price, Barnes & Noble could potentially lure users away from the Kindle, which some critics say is short on design and functionality.

A colour touchscreen display would be considered a plus by some users, who have grown accustomed to higher functionality on devices such as Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch.

E-reader hype has mounted in the past month, as Amazon rolled out the Kindle internationally and Google unveiled plans for an online e-book store.

Some 3 million e-readers are expected to be sold in the United States this year, with sales doubling in 2010, according to Forrester Research.

Reuters