Hasta La Gadget!

There’s yet another e-book reader in the market and this time it is likely to be from retail book giant Barnes & Noble. The company is expected to announce its own e-book reader in time for holiday season sales next month, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Barnes & Noble hasn’t yet commented about the device. But an announcement from the company would confirm months of speculation about it. Like most of its peers, the Barnes & Noble e-reader is expected to have a black-and-white 6-inch display from E-Ink. It will also reportedly have a touchscreen and run on AT&T’s wireless network.

Barnes & Noble’s e-reader will join a crowded market. Since Amazon’s launch of the Kindle in 2007, the e-reader market has exploded with new devices. In the past six months alone, companies such as Sony and iRex have announced newer models. E-book readers are expected to be a hot gadget this holiday season and electronics retailer Best Buy has said it will dedicate a section for these devices. A few weeks ago, Barnes & Noble said it will partner with iRex, a spin-off from Royal Phillips Electronics, to integrate the former’s e-book store into the latter’s e-readers.

So far, Barnes & Noble hasn’t disclosed pricing for its upcoming reader. Sony’s touchscreen reader is priced at $300.

Separately, a Barnes & Noble representative said in a video (above) that the company will  have a color touchscreen reader, developed jointly with Plastic Logic, available next spring.

See Also:

• Bookstores Aim at Amazon With E-Readers of Their Own
• Sony’s E-Book Reader Adds Touchscreen, Wireless Downloads
• Plastic Logic E-Reader is Slimmer than Kindle DX
• Sony to Introduce $200 E-reader
• New Barnes & Noble E-book Store to Power Plastic Logic Reader