Things just got a bit interesting in the e-reader market and in many ways, we should have seen this coming.

Remember the “Alex” e-reader device (top left) announced by Spring Design the day before Barnes & Noble formally announced the Nook device (top right)? It was a dual display e-reader based around the Android OS which we commented was very similar to the upcoming Nook device. Well guess what? We weren’t the only ones to think so as Spring Design announced today they have filed a lawsuit against Barnes & Noble for violating its intellectual property rights with the new Nook e-reader.

Eric Kmiec, VP of Sales and Marketing for Spring Design had this to say in their press release:

“We showed the Alex e-book design to Barnes & Noble in good faith with the intention of working together to provide a superior dual screen e-book to the market.”

Spring Design claims they first developed and filed for patents on the “Alex” e-reader back in 2006. Further, the company states:

“Since the beginning of 2009 Spring and Barnes & Noble worked within a non-disclosure agreement, including many meetings, emails and conference calls with executives ranging up to the president of Barnes and Noble.com, discussing confidential information regarding the features, functionality and capabilities of Alex. Throughout, Barnes & Noble’s marketing and technical executives extolled Alex’s “innovative” features, never mentioning their use of those features until the public disclosure of the Nook.”

Now the real question is – did Barnes & Noble actually violate any IPs with the Nook? Did they create the Nook independently of the Alex? Can any of this be proved in the court of law?

We’ll say this much – Barnes & Noble certainly doesn’t need this legal trouble if it plans on combating Amazon.com in the e-reader space. Here’s hoping Spring Design and Barnes & Noble can work things out because the Nook certainly is promising .

Technorati Tags: Spring Design, Barnes & Noble, Alex, Nook, e-book reader

It’s official folks – Barnes & Noble enters the e-reader market with the formal introduction of the “Nook” e-reader device. Yes, this wasn’t at all surprising given the amount of information that’s been leaked out by the press over the last several weeks. In fact, everything you’ve seen and/or read probably was true including:

• This is the first Android-based e-reader device to hit the market
• It comes with two screens – an E-Ink display and a color touch-screen LCD display
• Built-in 3G wireless access via AT&T mobile broadband
• Wi-Fi access at Barnes & Noble stores
• A new eBook lending program (more on this in a bit).

OK – let’s get into the details of the Nook because this device just seems really really cool (yeah I know – that’s real descriptive on my part isn’t it?).

• Size and weight of a standard paperback book
• Main display is E Ink Vizplex display
• Secondary color touch-screen display used for browsing through cover art, flipping through a library, or searching for books using a virtual keyboard
• AT&T 3G wireless built-in right now – no set-up or monthly costs
• Wi-Fi connectivity support
• Lend e-books to friends for up to 14 days at a time via the new “LendMe” technology. Choose the book you want to share and send it to a friend’s Nook, iPhone, iPod touch, select BlackBerry and Motorola smartphones, PCs or Macs with Barnes & Noble eReader software
• “Reading Now” virtual bookmarking feature allows you to pick up where you last left off in your book – whether you’re on your Nook, or on your iPhone, iPod touch, PC etc.
• Nook contains up to 1500 eBooks and comes with expandable microSD slot with support for up to a 16GB microSD card
• Transfer PDF files to the Nook for your viewing pleasure

In support of the Nook launch, Barnes & Noble also announced they were expanding their eBookstore to feature over 1 million titles – with most bestsellers and new releases going for $9.99 a title. You’ll also be able to subscribe to more than 20 newspapers including the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and others. Finally, Barnes & Noble is also now offering digital subscriptions to a variety of publications.

The Nook will begin shipping at the end of November for a price of $259. You can pre-order the Nook now at www.nook.com and in stores starting today (Thursday).  The first 10,000 customers to pre-order the Nook will also receive a free eBook of Malcolm Gladwell’s widely acclaimed best-seller, “The Tipping Point,”

So the question everyone is asking at this point – is the “Nook” an Amazon Kindle killer? It’s obviously too early to tell but from the early looks of things, the Nook has a lot going for it. Of course once the device starts shipping, and the reviews start flowing in, things could readily change. However, Barnes & Noble has a couple of things going for it. It’s got a larger e-Book collection than Amazon.com; it’s got retail store fronts all over the country allowing customers the ability to not only view a physical book but have the option of buying the digital title on their device; and it’s based around Android – which could mean endless possibilities down the road (think additional applications).

We’ll end things with a look at the technical specs of the Nook:

• Measures 7.7 x 4.9 x 0.5 inches and weighs 11.2 oz
• E-Ink Vizplex display
• 3.5 inch color touchscreen LCD display
• 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi access and AT&T 3G wireless access
• Free Wi-Fi in all Barnes & Noble stores
• 2GB of internal memory and support for up to 16GB microSD cards
• Rechargeable battery that can be charged via USB or a power adapter. 3.5 hour charge time from wall outlet.
• Read up to 10 days without charging and the wireless turned off
• Load photos to the Nook for personalized screensavers
• Built-in MP3 player
• Built-in mono speaker
• 3.5 mm stereo headphone jack
• Supported file types include EPUB and eReader Formats, PDF files, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, MP3
• micro USB connector

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Barnes & Noble Nook e-Book Reader

OK.. so we’ll all know for sure in a few hours but I thought I’d pass along this tidbit courtesy of the Wall Street Journal (via News.com) about the forthcoming announcement of the Barnes & Noble new e-reader device. We’ve seen the pictures and now we have a name and a supposed price.

According to the Journal, the new B&N device will be called the “Nook” and will be priced at $259. The device will also feature the ability to “lend electronic books to others” which I’m surprised that publishers were actually OK with but I’m sure we’ll find out the exact details shortly.

At $259, we’re talking about a device with the same price point as the entry level Amazon Kindle yet featuring dual displays – a larger electronic ink display and a smaller color touch-screen.

[Check it out via News.com]

Technorati Tags: Barnes & Noble e-reader, Nook, e-reader

If you can’t wait to hear what Barnes & Noble has in store for us in the e-book/e-reader market, then you’ll definitely want to check out Gizmodo’s gallery of leaked pictures of the upcoming B&N e-reader. Here are tidbits about the new device:

• There will be 2 displays – 1 large 6 inch e-ink display with a resolution of 800 x 600 and 1 smaller multi-touch color LCD display with a resolution of 480 x 144 and a 150 dpi resolution.
• The e-ink display is for reading books while the lower multi-touch color display is designed for navigating through book selections
• Buttons for search, home, “BN”, next/previous page
• No word on carrier but Barnes & Noble may go the international route which means supporting GSM

Just a few more days till we know the full details..

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Barnes & Noble e-reader pictures, Gizmodo

Circle October 20th on your calendars folks. Barnes & Noble sent out invitations to the media for a New York-based event on that day – a day most suspect will be the official unveiling of Barnes & Noble’s entry into the e-reader market.

The media has been buzzing about this ever since the Wall Street Journal and Gizmodo reported last Thursday that B&N was planning to enter the market with their own 6 inch touch-screen device based around the Google Android OS to compete against Amazon and Sony. 

While B&N entering the e-reader market isn’t necessarily a surprise, what is surprising is the rumor about the possible use of Android as the OS. This certainly opens the device to many more possibilities in terms of features and specifications. What exactly could we be dealing with here is quite fascinating. Think of it – the device could actually have a useful web browser built in. It could possibly leverage the thousands of applications that are now showing up for the Android OS. The possibilities to what this device could accomplish are possibly endless.

Of course, I might be dreaming here.. so I’ll stop with the second guessing until the day of the announcement. B&N after-all is still in the book/media business so I should keep my expectations at a minimum… (but I can dream right?)

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: B&N, Barnes & Noble