Borders has announced it’s entering the ebook marketplace with its new partner, Kobo (formerly known as ShortCovers), with plans for digital books in the open-source ePub format, and a selection of its own ereader devices. Yes, that’s “devices,” plural.

Kobo, which is already available as a downloadable app for smartphones (seen above), will join with Borders to launch a selection of ereader devices sometime in 2010. Borders has released few details about the devices; the line doesn’t have a name or price point yet. But the devices will come with WiFi included, and will be sold in Borders bricks-and-mortar stores, as …read more

Uh-oh. Looks like demand for the Nook was higher than Barnes & Noble expected. According to B&N, the high-profile new ebook reader device has gotten a lot more pre-orders than they were expecting.

If you had the foresight to order your Nook early in the game, you’re fine. Your device will still ship on November 30th as planned.
But from this point on, if you pre-order a Nook, your device won’t ship until at least the first week of December. It’s good news that the Nook is already so popular, but you have to wonder how many of the devices B&N intended …read more

Tell me if this sounds familiar. A full color tablet device that displays text, photos, audio, video, and surfs the Internet, all with a touchscreen interface. Creative is touting this just-announced device as the company’s entry into the ebook reader market, but it sounds to me more like a direct competitor to Apple’s long-awaited iPad.

Creative calls it the MediaBook, and though what details we have are low on specs, we know that it has an SD card for storage, and it runs on Creative’s “Zii” technology (which sounds an accessory for Nintendo’s Wii, but in reality is a subsidiary technology …read more

The ebook world has been all abuzz this week about Barnes & Noble’s long-awaited ereader, the Nook. It’s an impressive machine that promises capabilities beyond Amazon’s popular Kindle. We’ll have to wait until the end of November to see if it can deliver on all of its promises.
In the meantime, Amazon has taken the first step in addressing one of Kindle’s deficiencies, today announcing Kindle for PC, a free PC program that will let you read Kindle ebooks on your computer. (No word yet on a Mac version, but I’m working on finding out.) Barnes & Noble has offered a …read more

Spring Design may have just stepped on Barnes & Nobles’ toes with the announcement of its new dual-screen ereader, Alex, which has a lot of the same features rumored to be coming to B&N’s device as soon as this Christmas. As Amazon pretends not to quake in its boots while waiting for B&N’s big unveiling event (happening tomorrow), Spring Design has shown off a prototype of its device, and it looks pretty nifty.

Alex is an Android-based ereader, with black & white e-ink on the main screen, and a secondary, full-color screen at the bottom where you can surf the Net …read more

LG Display is expanding the rapidly-growing ebook reader market with a solar cell that fits its existing ebook reader to lengthen the device’s running time.

The Solar Cell eBook’s solar cell fits the 6″ display of LG’s existing ebook reader as a side-by-side panel. The cell, which was developed in-house at LG, is thinner than a credit card and weighs less than a writing pen.
Users can get a whole extra day of use out of their ereader if the solar cell is exposed to sunlight for four to five hours. LG Display hopes to raise the energy conversion efficiency over the …read more

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the world’s biggest bricks-and-mortar bookseller, Barnes & Noble, is planning to take on Amazon.com in the ebook market with the pending release of its own B&N branded ereader device. Kindle, look out. You may finally be getting some serious competition.

Does Barnes & Noble have what it takes to take down the Kindle? If anyone can, it’s B&N, because they’ve definitely got the library of titles to supply an ereader device with the ebooks it needs to stay relevant. What will it take to really challenge the Kindle’s dominance? A superior device …read more

When the blessed Steve Jobs descends from on high to impart his world-changing Apple touchpad computing device upon us mere mortals, we all know it’s going to be revolutionary. But we didn’t know how revolutionary until now.

Gizmodo is reporting insider information that the iPad will do a lot more than surf the web and run iPhone apps. Apple is looking to take on Amazon’s Kindle, too — and redefine what an ebook is. A big push of the iPad will be into the arena of college textbooks, where Apple believes it can present a more appealing opportunity to textbook publishers …read more

Sony is dropping its own proprietary ebook format in favor of the open source ePub format, in a bid to take on Amazon’s dominance of the ebook market. Sounds kind of like the digital music industry trying to keep up with Apple’s iTunes, doesn’t it?

The ePub format was created by a consortium of major publishers, including Random House and HarperCollins. Sony will adopt the ePub format for all of its ebook readers — existing and new. The format is an attempt by publishers to create a single ebook format that will work across any number of reading devices, unlike Amazon’s …read more