The market for dedicated ebook readers appears to have turned into a bit of a head to head confrontation between Amazon and Barnes and Noble at the moment. It's true that Barnes and Noble have been a distant second for some time now, but the recently launched updated Nook reader might allow them to make up ground on Amazon's almost ubiquitous Kindle in the near future.
It has a touch screen e-ink technology display, which some people will definitely prefer and which allows the QWERTY keypad to be dispensed with. The end result is a reader which is both smaller and lighter.
There was an element of controversy regarding the battery life of the new Nook reader. A span of two months between battery charges was claimed by B&N - double the Kindle's published one month battery life. However, it should be noted that this figure assumes half an hour's worth of reading on a daily basis. Amazon claimed one month between charges - but this was based upon one hour's worth of reading a day.
The published Kindle battery life has now been increased to two months between charges - but Amazon has also made it clear exactly how that figure is derived.
In reality, it's probably a bit of a fuss over nothing. E-ink technology screens only use power when the display is being changed - when you are "turning the page" in other words. Which means that the time between battery charges depends on how often you turn a page rather than the amount of time that you spend reading. However, unless you are a particularly fast or slow reader, it probably won't make a great deal of difference to you.
In a similar vein, whether or not your reader will last for a month, or for two months, on a single charge is probably not a big deal for most people. It's long enough either way. You can set off on a long journey secure in the knowledge that your reader won't die on you half way to your destination. You don't have to pack your charger before setting off on vacation or on a business trip. Those are the types of things that people tend to think about when choosing an e-reader, or any other portable electronic device for that matter.
On the other hand, such minor, and relatively inconsequential, fine details are enormously important to both Barnes and Noble and Amazon and we may see further tiffs provoked in the Kindle vs Nook ebook reader sweepstakes during the upcoming months.
The Kindle is the best selling product on the Amazon website. Sales of Kindle readers and books are forecast to net Amazon something in the region of $ 4 billion by the end of the year. Sales of Kindle related items are expected to generate over 10% of Amazon's income by 2012. Not bad for a product which first launched just three and a half years ago.
It's a similar story for Barnes and Noble. At a time when sales from their traditional bricks and mortar outlets are in decline, digital sales are up by 50%. B&N are now selling three times as many ebooks as they are physical books - so the Nook is every bit as important to them as the Kindle is to Amazon.
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