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Barnes and Noble unveils e-reader in Amazon challenge

Plastic Logic to unveil first e-reader in January
Plastic Logic, a US company whose planned electronic reader has attracted a lot of media buzz, said Monday that it will announce the availability and pricing of the device for business professionals in January. The Mountain View, California-based firm said it will unveil the details about its first e-reader, to be called the "QUE," at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on January 7. Another US company, Spring Design Inc. announced plans meanwhile to release an e-reader known as "Alex" powered by Google open-source Android software. The Fremont, California-based Spring said it was currently in discussions with major content partners and planned to release the device later this year. The Alex features dual screens - a main electronic paper display screen and a secondary color liquid crystal display (LCD) screen for Web browsing. The announcements by Plastic Logic and Spring Design came one day ahead of the expected entry into the increasingly crowded e-reader field of US bookstore giant Barnes and Noble. Barnes and Noble has called a press conference in New York on Tuesday. It has declined to reveal what it will be about but there has been widespread speculation in technology blogs that the company plans to unveil an e-reader. Barnes and Noble is also a content provider to Plastic Logic. Plastic Logic said the "QUE" will be aimed at business professionals as opposed to current models such as Amazon's Kindle and others that target casual and leisure readers. "In addition to connecting its users with their business and professional newspapers, books and periodicals, QUE supports the document formats business users need (including PDF, Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents) and features powerful tools for interacting with and managing the content," it said. The QUE is thin - less than one-third of an inch (0.85 centimeters) thick - lightweight and wireless-enabled, and has a bigger screen than most current e-readers. Other companies offering e-readers include Japan's Sony, Britain's Interead, and Dutch company IREX Technologies. Apple is also rumored to be coming out with a portable tablet computer early next year that may double as an e-reader. Forrester Research estimates that three million e-readers will be sold in the United States this year, up from a previous forecast of two million units, and for e-reader sales to double to six million units next year.

Samsung to help build 2.2 bln dlr China LCD plant
South Korea's Samsung Electronics said Friday it will set up a joint venture to build a liquid crystal display (LCD) plant costing about 2.6 trillion won (2.23 billion dollars) in eastern China. Samsung, the world's biggest supplier of LCD panels, said in a statement it will spend 925.2 billion won on the 7.5th-generation plant in Suzhou. The firm declined to give financial details, name its partner or say how big a stake it would hold. "Everything regarding the financial details will be available only when both the Korean and Chinese governments approve the plan," spokesman James Chung told Dow Jones Newswires. The company has chosen China to exploit demand there for televisions with screens larger than 40 inches, Chung said. A so-called 7.5th-generation plant can make panels bigger than 40 inches while 8th-generation factories can produce panels bigger than 50 inches. Earlier this week rival LG Display announced a joint venture for a planned four billion dollar 8th-generation LCD plant in China, which is seen as a major growth market for LCD makers.
by Staff Writers
 Washington (AFP) Oct 20, 2009
 The biggest bookstore chain in the United States jumped into the increasingly crowded electronic book reader market on Tuesday, unveiling its own device in a challenge to Amazon's popular Kindle.

Barnes and Noble said the wireless touchscreen device called the "Nook," which costs 259 dollars -- the same price as the basic Kindle -- would be available at the end of November.

Powered by Google's Android software, the Nook features a black-and-white electronic ink display for reading books and a small color touchpad for navigation, storing books or making purchases.

Barnes and Noble said readers will have access through its online bookstore to more than one million books, newspapers and magazines and it eventually plans to offer "in digital form, subscriptions to every major US daily."

Nook users will also be allowed to lend e-books to others for free for up to 14 days to read on various devices including the Apple iPhone, the iPod touch and certain BlackBerry and Motorola smartphones.

Barnes and Noble said the Nook, which is about the size of a paperback book, can hold up to 1,500 e-books and up to 17,500 with an external memory card.

The Nook is the latest entrant in an e-reader market which has already seen two major product announcements this week.

Plastic Logic, a Mountain View, California-based firm, said Monday it will announce the availability and pricing of an e-reader for business professionals called the "QUE" at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.

And another US company, Fremont, California-based Spring Design Inc. said Monday it will release a dual-screen e-reader known as "Alex" also powered by Android, later this year.

Amazon does not release Kindle sales figures but Forrester estimates the Seattle-based online retail giant has a nearly 60 percent share of the US market followed by the Sony Reader with 35 percent.

Other companies offering e-readers include Britain's Interead, maker of the "Cool-er," and Dutch company IREX Technologies.

Apple is also rumored to be coming out with a portable tablet computer early next year that may double as an e-reader.

Forrester Research estimates that three million e-readers will be sold in the United States this year, up from a previous forecast of two million units, and for e-reader sales to double to six million units next year.

A Forrester analyst said Barnes and Noble appear to have Amazon in their sights but "will need to use all the tools in its arsenal -- merchandising it prominently in its stores, promoting it through advertising, email marketing, etc. -- to make up for lost time since the Kindle's launch in 2007."

"To steal market share from Amazon and make up for lost time, B&N is pricing the Nook as aggressively as possible," Sarah Rotman-Epps said in a blog post. "Getting the price right is crucial to success in this emerging device market.

"We expected something in the range of 399 dollars, which would make the device competitive with the other touch plus wireless eReaders on the market, the Sony Daily Edition and the iRex DR800SG," she said.

"Pricing the Nook a full 140 dollars below these other devices sends a strong signal that B&N is focused on Amazon, not Sony, as competition," she said.

Sony in August announced that it was doing away with proprietary software on its Sony Reader and converting to an industry standard in a move that allows the company to make its e-book store compatible with multiple devices.

Sony's move was seen as another challenge to Amazon, whose electronic books can only be read on the Kindle or on an Apple iPhone using Kindle software.

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