Proud Geek

Barnes and Noble has acquired Fictionwise, which owns Ereader.com.   The acquisition is part of Barnes and Noble’s strategy to open an e-Bookstore later this year.

This looks like an attempt to fend off Amazon.com’s Kindle-inspired expansion into the possibly lucrative e-book market.  Amazon.com has been selling Kindle hand-held electronic readers to sync and read electronic books, and recently unveiled an iPhone version which should prove to be hugely popular.

I have been purchasing e-books from Ereader.com for several years now — heck, I *ONLY* read e-books nowadays.   People may think I’m crazy for reading e-books on my comparatively tiny Palm Treo 755p screen, but believe me, once you get used to it, it’s hard to live without it!  I read in the elevator, I read while walking to a restaurant near work, I read on the train, I read in bed, I read while standing in line …   I read so much that if I had paper copies of all the books I’ve read over the past several years, I would have filled up a small library!  Ereader.com carries a good number of new releases, plus books written by some of my favorite authors.   Hard for me to run out of what to read from ereader.com.

However, I’d begun to be unhappy with ereader.com.  Despite the addition of a new (but slow!) mobile site and a iPhone app, the site had been stagnating.  I’m hoping that the Barnes and Noble acquisition will give it a much-needed boost, and that it will serve as a viable competitor to Amazon’s Kindle bookstore.  Especially since ereader.com’s e-books can be read on a wider variety of smartphones than Amazon.com’s e-books.

Good move, Barnes and Noble.  Now, start advertising — you need to overtake Amazon.com’s headstart!