Barnes & Noble Makes Nook Available At Best Buy
The deal with Best Buy will not only increase the Nook's availability (previously it was only available through Barnes & Noble's website and in 723 of its bookstores), but it will also improve the eBook reader's ability to compete with the recently launched Apple iPad, which functions as an ereader among other things. Best Buy and Apple stores currently are the only locations that carry the iPad.
"This partnership provides them (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.
Best Buy also currently sells Sony's Reader, another major player in the ereader market. The final major player in the ereader market is Amazon's Kindle, which is only available through the Amazon website.