US bookstore giant Barnes & Noble unveiled a colour electronic book reader on October 26, getting the jump on rivals Amazon and Sony. The Nook Colour features a seven-inch (18-centimeter) touchscreen display and sells for 249 dollars, about half the price of Apple's cheapest iPad and about 100 dollars more than the black-and-white Nook released last year.
Barnes & Noble said customers could immediately purchase the Nook Colour, which is powered by Google's Android software and has eight gigabytes of memory, through the bookseller's website with shipping beginning around November 19.
"With Nook Colour, we've combined the functionality and convenience of a seven-inch portable wireless tablet with the reader-centricity of a dedicated e-reader," Barnes & Noble chief executive William Lynch said in a statement.
"Nook Color enables Web browsing over Wi-Fi, music, games and much more, but reading anything and everything in brilliant color is the killer app and squarely the product's focus." Barnes & Noble is the first of the major players in the dedicated e-reader market to come out with a color e-reader.
Sony's Reader and Amazon's popular Kindle both feature black-and-white electronic ink displays. Apple's iPad is a multi-purpose tablet computer that also features a colour e-reader.
Barnes & Noble said the Nook Colour offers users access to more than two million books, including most New York Times best-sellers.