Nook vs. Kindle: The e-Reader Battle Continues

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."

For consumers, it's all about pricing and content. “They were the guys who got there first with a tablet-like e-reader,” said Yankee Group analyst Carl Howe about Nook, according to the Boston Herald. “They just didn’t have the distribution Amazon has.”

The pricing of the new Nook family ($99 for Nook Simple Touch, $199 for Nook Color and $249 for Nook Tablet) makes it slightly more expensive than the Kindle family. “It’s going right up against the Fire,” Howe was quoted by the Herald. “So we’ll have two interesting tablets hitting the market at the same time. Who knows, maybe we’ll have a price war.”

Both have been shoring up their libraries, striking a flurry of deals with content partners in recent weeks. As CBS notes, Conde Nast cut a deal with B&N to offer all 18 of its magazine titles on the Nook Tablet, while Kindle Fire boasts Netflix and Pandora, and Hulu Plus movie and TV show titles.

As for who will win, USA Today's Baig gives it to Kindle Fire "by a nose." Which do you think will win the holiday e-reader wars?