BARNES AND NOBLE OVERWHELMED BY ORDERS FOR READERS

Barnes & Noble has been nearly overwhelmed by pre-orders for its upcoming Nook e-book reader, to the point where it has decided to not bring this device to its stores this week.

The Nook went on sale last month through B&N's website, and the company had planned to bring it to stores on Nov. 30. However, the company revealed today that this won't happen for another week. And there will only be a few units available in each store.

B&N is going to put most of its efforts into being sure that those who have already pre-ordered this electronic book reader get it in time for the holidays. At this point, shipments are expected to start arriving on Dec. 11.

No Nook for You!
Demand for the Nook has been so strong that Barnes & Noble has had to announce that only products ordered before Nov. 20 will arrive this year.

The Nook webpage has a note warning customers that items ordered now won't ship until early January.

Those who really want to get an e-book reader for someone on their gift list should note that there is no shortage of the Nook's rival, the Amazon.com Kindle 2.

An Overview of the Barnes & Noble Nook
B&N's e-book reader will have much in common with Amazon's offering. It will differentiate itself by allowing users to lend books and connect to Wi-Fi networks.

This device will have 6-inch, grayscale E-Ink screen for displaying the contents of books, newspapers, and magazines, and below that will be a smaller color touchscreen that will be used as a keyboard and to perform other actions.

Users will be able to purchase and download e-books directly on the Nook, either over a Wi-Fi connection or over AT&T's 3G network. Those who want to access hotspots in B&N stores will be able to do so for free.

E-books will be in eReader, the open ePub standard, or Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format, and users will be able to move files onto this reader -- they don't have to come from B&N.

This device will have 2 GB of internal storage -- that's room for about 1,500 books -- plus it will have a microSD card slot for additional capacity.

The most unusual feature of the Nook will be the ability to "lend" books; users will be able to loan a text to one of their friends for up to 14 days for no charge. The receiver must have either a Nook or a compatible device -- iPhone, BlackBerry, Palm, PC, etc. -- with the free B&N eReader software installed.

Physically, the Nook is going to be 7.7 inches by 4.9 inches by 0.5 inches (196 mm by 126 mm by 13 mm). It will weigh 11.2 ounces (317 g).