US book-selling giant Barnes & Noble has revealed that it is expanding its business into the UK, with the launch of its Nook range of ereaders.
The Nook brand has been around since 2009 but it has only been recently that a UK launch of the ereader and its digital store looked likely.
The first sign was back in March when B&N announced a Nook developer day in the UK.
This was then followed by the news that Microsoft wanted a piece of the ebook pie, investing $300 million into a Nook subsidiary.
Now it has been revealed that a number of Nook devices will hit stores in October, with the Nook Simple Touch and Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight set to arrive this autumn.
Discerning and highly educated
"We are proud to be able to offer our top-rated line of Nook reading devices and our award-winning digital bookstore to the discerning and highly educated consumers in the UK," explained William J Lynch, Chief Executive Officer at Barnes & Noble, in a rather flattering press release.
"We're confident our award-winning technology, combined with our expansive content – including books, children's books, magazines, apps, movies and more – will bring UK customers the option they've been waiting for."
At the moment it looks like it is only the ereaders that are being launched, with no sign of the Nook tablet making an appearance in the UK.
Currently, Amazon rules the roost in the UK when it comes to ereaders with its Kindle range. However Barnes & Noble is a definite rival in the US, so it will be interesting to see if the company can shake up a market that already houses a number of Kindle variations, the Sony Reader and the Kobo range of ereaders.
Alongside the physical Nook, B&N is also about to launch the Nook store which stocks 2.5 million digital title - which equates to plenty of reading for the 'discerning and highly eduated' folks of the UK.
