Waterstones, in a surprise move, has partnered with Amazon to sell the e-tailer's Kindle e-book reader, as detailed in a press release and seen in a video, below, from managing director James Daunt.

What a difference a few months make in the fiercely competitive digital versus physical retail wars. In December, Daunt called Amazon “a ruthless, money-making devil," adding, "They never struck me as being a sort of business in the consumer's interest.”Continue reading...

A year ago, we published a story ("Nook vs. Kindle: The e-Reader Battle Joined") that outlined the battle between the e-readers by Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Today, that battle is a full-fledged war.

B&N wants you to curl up with a nice comfy e-reader — the newest version of the Nook, which is being released Nov. 18th, even as research shows consumers grappling how they’re going to afford gift-giving this holiday season. Amazon's Kindle Fire went on sale ahead of schedule this past Monday to get a jump on the holiday-shopping season.

As USA Today's Ed Baig writes, "There may be no bigger slugfest than what is taking place this week in 7-inch touch-screen tablets as the Kindle Fire from Amazon goes toe-to-toe with the Nook Tablet from Barnes & Noble."Continue reading...

If you've noticed that Barnes & Noble has been clearing away books to make room for the NOOK, get ready for more redecorating on the selling floor as the bookseller takes aim on Amazon's $199 Kindle Fire this holiday season with its just-revealed NOOK Tablet.

Also, of course, looking to nibble at the iPad's market share, NOOK Tablet is described by B&N as "Our fastest, lightest tablet with the best in HD entertainment & more!" (including more than 2.5 million books, magazines, newspapers and other titles), the NOOK Tablet is selling for slightly more, at $249.

"With the Nook Tablet we are delivering the best media device ever created in a portable form factor," said Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch at a launch event in New York today.Continue reading...

South Korea is the world’s most wired nation with the fastest global broadband connections (seven times the world average), and students there have been experimenting with digital since 2008, using e-textbooks on tablet-like Fujitsu PCs and Samsung Galaxy Tabs. 

Now, the nation is pushing for all elementary-level educational materials to be digitized by 2014, while by 2015, the entire school-age curriculum will be administered by computers, smart phones and tablets. 

The national initiative has a $2.4 billion budget, with Samsung poised to get the bulk of the deal. Not only will this move redefine primary school education, it will spawn a huge market for home-grown electronics including the iPad, the Galaxy Tab and other branded tablets.Continue reading...

Remember that time, back in e-reader history, when Barnes & Noble upped the ante by going all polychromatic on everyone? And getting all jiggy with the kids’ books? Ahh, the golden age.

In the e-reader wars, every week seems to bring more big news – such is the biz cycle when the market for your product is just taking shape, the speed of innovation is high (“hey, what if this e-reader could also make toast?”) and the competition hot and heavy.

Apparently Jeff Bezos was paying attention when the Nook made its splash, because yesterday Amazon announced it is completely flipping the script on the revenue share deal with its partner publishers. Currently publishers are on the wrong end of a 70-30 split, but beginning December 1, Amazon is offering publishers 70 percent of the retail price on newspaper and magazine downloads purchased at the Kindle store – matching Apple’s current split.  Continue reading...