Barnes & Nobles Launches eBook Store, Announces Plastic Logic Deal For Content on eBook Reader

Well, well, well, looks like Barnes & Nobles is looking to make a splash in the eBook world with two big announcements yesterday. The first, is their launch of an eBook store and the second is their partnership with Plastic Logics to release a new eBook reader with exclusive content supplied by Barnes and Nobles.

The eBook store is a huge step in the right direction for the brick and mortar shop. It’s offering over 700,000 titles, and can be read on your Mac/PC or the iPhone/iPod Touch, something Amazon and Sony do not offer for their eBooks. The eReader software is available for download on the B&N site and it looks pretty good.

I downloaded the software this morning and found it pretty easy to use. The only problem is, until Amazon launches their physical eBook reader, no one is going to stare at an LED screen all day, attempting to finish a book.

This leads to Barnes and Nobles second announcement, their deal with Plastic Logics to provide exclusive content to an upcoming eBook reader. There weren’t too many details about the Plastic Logic device, other than it’ll be 8.5 x11-inches and that Google’s public domain archives will be supported. Barnes and Nobles has not made a statement as to whether or not they’ll offer the Plastic Logics device in their shops or not.

This Barnes and Nobles news comes on the heels of Amazon’s recent user backlash after remotely deleting eBooks from Kindles amid 3rd party copyright violations.

Had Barnes and Nobles come out with this eBook store and a device to carry the eBooks, a few months back, they could have made a dent in the eBook sector but with Amazon’s recent price drop of the Kindle 2 and its popularity, they still have a strong hold in that market.

(Via CrunchGear and Engadget)