Small Business Tech Tips

Today, Barnes and Noble is expected to disclose their own version of the Kindle in NYC. The Kindle is an electronic book reader made and sold by Amazon.com. Even prior to the release of this device, Barnes and Noble has already made it’s e-bookstore available on a range of devices including BlackBerry and ipPhone. Although B&N has been fairly hush hush about their e-reader release, the company allegedly has an event centered around it planned for today at Chelsea Piers in New York; an event for what an invitation calls “a major event in company history.” B&N has refused to comment on this.

Those of you who own or are familiar with Kindles know that you can not lend digital books to other Kindle owners. This is one flaw that B&N plans on capitalizing on with their own e-reader, as they hope to make e-book lending a centerpiece of their device. This is still currently not an option yet, as publishers are having discussions with the bookstore on how many book loans a year publishers will be allowing. B&N feels that this “lend to a friend” capability will greatly help them in marketing the device, especially for members of its own book clubs program.

Only time will tell in regards to when, and to what degree, e-readers will be able to lend books to one another. Also, it is of no surprise that Google also plans to breach into the e-book market in the near future. I’m sure that they will have their own tricks up their sleeve for their version too.

SS

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 at 12:31 pm and is filed under Small Business Mobile Technology Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.