Barnes & Noble Nook for iPad App lets you Share Books and Much More
Barnes and Noble has officially introduced their iPad app called “Nook” that brings a ton of new functionality to using Apple’s iPad as an ereader. The app is available for free and offers lots of great reasons to choose it over other eReaders including ten free samples of current bestsellers, three free classics, and samples of any ebook.
One unique feature of Nook for iPad is the ability to share books with friends with the LendME feature with built in integration with your existing iPad contacts. Ebooks can only be lent once and for a period of no more than two weeks.
Nook for iPad also features adjustable font sizes (up to 10 different font sizes), multiple font types, swipe to turn pages (the nook ereader uses hardware buttons to turn the pages), background and text color options, and the ability to sync notes, bookmarks, and highlights.
A lot of the other features are similar to the features that exist on the actual nook ereader, which should make those who are used to using the nook comfortable with using the iPad, although I’m not sure there are many users who initially bought a nook only to purchase an iPad months later, but who knows. 
Barnes & Noble now sells its nook ereader at Best Buy, expanding distribution as it faces growing competition with the entry of Apple’s iPad (SEE nook vs iPad).
Best Buy will be the first and only chain to carry the device other than Barnes & Noble, the largest U.S. specialty bookstore chain, putting the electronics seller at the center of the fast-growing ereader market.
The exclusive deal calls for Best Buy to also include Barnes & Noble’s BN eReader software on some of the personal computers and mobile devices it sells. Currently, the nook is available at Barnes & Noble’s website and 723 bookstores.
The deal with Best Buy will greatly increase the Nook’s availability and ability to compete with the recently launched iPad, a portable computing and entertainment system that also functions as an e-reader and is sold at Best Buy in addition to Apple stores.
Along with the iPad and the Nook, Best Buy also sells Sony”s Reader. The other major player in the e-reader wars, online retailer Amazon.com Inc, sells its market-leading Kindle (SEE nook vs Kindle) on its own web site.
“This partnership provides [Barnes & Noble] with an additional distribution channel, which is critical to driving sales of the Nook,” said Michael Souers, an analyst with Standard & Poor’s Equity Research.
Unlike Amazon, whose downloads are not compatible with competing ereaders, Barnes & Noble’s ebook store is “device agnostic” — meaning owners of the iPad or Sony’s Reader can download titles from the site.
Apple Inc.’s iPad and College WiFi Networks Have a Lot to Learn Before Fall
The Wall Street Journal reports that the iPad is, “having difficulty being accepted at George Washington University and Princeton University because of network stability issues. Cornell University also says it is seeing connectivity problems with the device and is concerned about bandwidth overload.” Read more.
Business Week reports that Apple plans on bringing the operating system to “new platforms,” which is the focus of an Apple job posting. This underscores the company’s growing reliance on mobile devices, such as the iPhone, iPod, and iPad over traditional hardware such as the Macbooks and the desktops that the company was founded on.
Hardware makers such as Griffin Technology, Gelaskins Inc., Sanho Corp. and SDI Technologies Inc. have hurried to design chargers, covers, and other accessories for Apple’s new iPad. “There are some things we’ve identified as no-brainers,” said Mark Rowan, president of case maker Griffin in Nashville, Tenn., which began drawing up designs for iPad cases and contacting manufacturers within hours of the iPad announcement. “We know people are going to want to protect the device.” The iPad will come in models priced between $499 and $829, will feature a 9.7-inch screen, no keyboard (a docking station with attached keyboard will be available), and a wireless Internet connection through 3G and/or WiFi. It is primarily for surfing the Internet, reading e-books and running applications that also run on the iPhone. The race is on to come out with accessories as close as possible to Apple’s shipping date, which is expected to be in late March, 2010.
