Barnes & Noble has launched the Barnes & Noble eBookstore, which it calls "the world's largest eBookstore," a part of its website that will offer more than 700,000 titles that may be read on a range of devices and computers, including iPhones, iPods, Blackberrys, as well as a new Plastic Logic eReader that will be introduced early next year. The new e-reader, an "ultra thin 8.5 x 11 inch wireless" device, is "especially designed for business professionals," B&N said.

New books and bestsellers will be priced at $9.99, the same price as Amazon offers most e-books. The store's offerings include more than 500,000 free public domain books from Google. B&N said it expects to offer more than a million e-books within in the next year. The store will include an upgraded version of the eReader application, part of B&N's purchase of Fictionwise earlier this year.

Also on the eBookstore: B&N's app for iPhone and iPod users, which includes the ability to get information about a book by taking a picture of the book's cover with the iPhone's camera.

In a statement, BN.com president William J. Lynch said: "Today marks the first phase of our digital strategy, which is rooted in the belief that readers should have access to the books in their digital library from any device, from anywhere, at any time. "

According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon has about 300,000 e-books available for the Kindle and Sony sells about 200,000 e-books and offers 500,000 Google books.

Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst with Forrester Research, told the Journal: "The biggest news here is the multi-channel integration of [Barnes& Noble's] physical store and e-book store via the iPhone. It makes use of B&N's biggest asset: the brick-and-mortar store."