Move over Kindle: rival Nook is coming to town

Amazon’s Kindle has long been the most popular e-reader in the UK market. That could change very soon with the arrival of Nook, the e-reader from US bookselling giant Barnes & Noble.

The first products to be available when the company begins offering its products in the UK in mid-October on the Nook website include their E-Ink Readers, Simple Touch and Simple Touch with GlowLight.

Yes that’s right, finally an e-reader with a light so you can read in the dark in bed. No more disturbing your partner reading by lamplight or getting out of bed to switch the light off. Heaven.

Nook owners will have access to 2.5 million e-books, newspapers, magazines, comics and apps, including 1 million free books. Further partnerships with UK retailers and the exact launch date in October are still to be announced.

The Nook, launched in the US in October 2009, has proved very popular there and provided Amazon with a serious rival to its Kindle range. With heavy investment in owners Barnes & Noble from Microsoft earlier this year, the Nook is in a strong position to be launched worldwide, the UK being its first conquest outside of the US.

Microsoft’s investment in Barnes & Noble is also particularly useful for its new Surface tablets  (to rival Apple’s iPad) launching later this year as it means access to a large catalogue of digital content for Surface owners.

No prices have been announced yet for UK Nooks. The Nook Simple Touch and the read-in-the-dark version retail at $99 (£63) and $139 (£88) respectively in the US. Amazon recently announced that e-books are now outselling printed editions.

Will you consider buying a Nook when they arrive in the UK? What do you think of e-readers? Let us know below.

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