Hasta La Gadget!

Barnes & Noble is getting into the e-books business, all guns blazing, as it announced a new expanded e-book store that will be available across different devices such iPhone, BlackBerry and the yet-to-be released Plastic Logic e-reader.

The company’s e-book store will have more than 700,000 titles, compared to the 300,000 or so that its closest rival Amazon boasts. More than half-million public domain books from Google will also be part of Barnes & Noble’s electronic bookstore and can be downloaded for free, it said. Sony has a similar deal with Google to make the public domain books available for its e-book reader customers. But Amazon does not offer the free books to its Kindle customers.

At just about 1 percent, e-book sales are a fraction of the $25 billion book publishing business in the U.S. but it is a category that is growing rapidly. So far, Amazon has been the most successful at seamlessly integrating its online book store with its Kindle e-book reader because of the over-the-air wireless book downloads feature.

Through the partnership with Plastic Logic, Barnes & Noble hopes to counter Amazon’s Kindle threat. Plastic Logic is expected to start shipping a new device early next year that could be a rival to Amazon’s broadsheet Kindle DX launched last month. Plastic Logic’s e-reader is 0.27 inches thick and has a 8.5 x 11 inch E Ink touchscreen display that makes it seem almost like a large notepad.

Barnes & Noble’s e-book store will support the EPub format that has also been adopted by Sony. Yet Barnes & Noble’s e-bookstore won’t be accessible by Sony Reader, the company said. Amazon Kindle users, also, won’t be able to download books from Barnes & Noble’s e-book store.

See Also:

• Plastic Logic E-Reader is Slimmer than Kindle DX
• Buying Guide: How to Choose an E-Book Reader
• World’s First Color E-Book Reader Goes on Sale
• Google Boosts E-Reader Status of Smartphones with Mobile Book
  

Photo: Plastic Logic E-Reader/Plastic Logic