Meanwhile, it seems Amazon may have been listening closely to Rupert Murdoch’s talk last week of launching a large screen e-book reader suitable for the newspapers and magazines published by his News Corp group. But it would be a small step to offer e- optimized for books.

This is a free application for the RIM phones, and is also available for the iPhone and iPod Touch as well as Symbian and Windows Mobile smartphones. Last month, Barnes & Noble acquired digital book retailer Fictionwise for $15.7m in a clear swipe at Amazon, and its new unit beta-released its eReader for BlackBerry recently. Other sources say that AT&T may also be in the running for the latest book deal. Indeed, a brand-neutral stance on the network owner’s part will be vital to making a success of the embedded model in the future ‘ when the operator will provide bandwidth for hundreds of different devices and brands, invisibly to the end user. However, according to reports on, talks between the book retailer and Verizon have broken down, and Barnes & Noble may now turn to Sprint too.Īlthough there might be some conflicts of interest with Amazon, it is understood that there is nothing in the Sprint contract with the online retailer to preclude the cellco from supporting other offerings. The stealthy Barnes & Noble reader is likely to be the product that Verizon Wireless semi-promised last year, when executives said the company was looking to launch a challenger to the Amazon service, which runs on the Sprint network. Now US book retailer Barnes & Noble is said to be working on its own rival to Kindle, just as Amazon itself is reported to be readying a large-screen version. Verizon Wireless, Vodafone and others ‘ not to mention Rupert Murdoch ‘ have hinted their own variations on the device, as carriers pursue new revenue streams from embedded wireless gadgets with integrated services.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the Amazon Kindle ebook reader is a huge success.

Barnes and noble kindle