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Amazon’s trendy Kindle electronic book reader might well be all the rage when it comes to carrying a personal digital library, but the upcoming eReader platform from Plastic Logic just got a whole lot more attractive thanks to a landmark announcement by bookstore heavyweight Barnes & Noble.
Even bigger than this one. Image: szlea/Flickr.
More pointedly, Barnes & Noble has this week unveiled “the world’s largest eBookstore” through its official Web site, offering avid bookworms online access to more than 700,000 titles and hundreds of new releases at a price point of $9.99 USD.
According to Barnes & Noble, the store’s initial selection is expected to increase to more than a million titles within the first year of service, “inclusive of every available eBook from every book publisher and every available eBook original.”
Beyond the wealth of retail purchases open to users, the new store also boasts some 500,000 public domain books from Google, including classic publications and titles that are historically much harder to access. And, what’s more, public domain availability means that all half million titles are completely free to download.
“As America’s #1 bookstore and newsstand, our goal at Barnes & Noble is to build a service that revolves around the customer, enabling them to have access to hundreds of thousands of titles and read on their smartphone, PC and many other existing and future devices,” trumpeted Barnes & Noble president William J. Lynch.
“We want to make eBook simple, accessible, affordable and convenient for everyone,” he added in an official statement.
Not restricted to Plastic Logic’s incoming device, the store will also be compatible with BlackBerry smartphones, Apple’s iconic iPhone and iPod Touch handsets, and also most computers equipped with Windows or the Mac OS.
The eReader from Plastic Logic, which is an ultra-thin device (8.5 x 11 inch) being targeted more at mobile professionals, is due to arrive at retail in the early part of 2010.
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