Barnes & Noble Officially Acknowledges Plans for iPad eReader Application

Barnes & Noble today officially acknowledged that it is developing an iPad-specific application that will provide access to content available in the company's eBookstore.

Designed specifically for the iPad, our new B&N eReader will give our customers access to more than one million eBooks, magazines and newspapers in the Barnes & Noble eBookstore, as well as the existing content in their Barnes & Noble digital library. (That includes eBooks and content customers have downloaded to their nook eBook reader.)

The news should not come as a tremendous surprise, as the company already offers a B&N eReader application for the iPhone and iPod touch. Unlike the existing iPhone application, however, Barnes & Noble's eBookstore will offer direct competition with Apple's iBookstore planned for the iPad.

Barnes & Noble's eBookstore allows users to purchase electronic book material and store it online in their "eBook Library". Users who wish to view content on-the-go can download it to their portable devices and view it using the company's eReader applications for a number of different platforms.