UK’s biggest high street bookstore Waterstone’s has plans to enter the digital era very soon, by selling their own branded eReader.
Waterstone’s’ Managing Director James Daunt spoke with BBC Radio 4 recently, and during his interview he confirmed lived on air that the company had plans to launch both an eReader and an entire electronic bookstore by Spring 2012.
With bookstores in the U.S already jumping on the eBook bandwagon, Waterstone’s has realised they may fall behind if they don’t hop on too.
Daunt says he was inspired by the success of Barnes and Noble, who released their own eReader device in the form of the Nook. He says he was impressed at their attempt to take on Amazon’s Kindle store and devices.
Waterstones is one of the most popular bookstores in the UK, and some stores do already sell certain eReader devices and eBooks through a partnership with Sony. Now, their MD has spotted an opportunity for them to create their own digital library of titles and offer an exclusive Waterstone’s branded eReader.
Borders closed earlier this year due to bankruptcy – they were a retailer much larger than Waterstone’s and one that failed to latch on to the eBook trend before it was too late.
In the UK we don’t have a great deal of good book stores and Waterstones represents one of the best options we have on our high streets to find a good book. We hope they don’t go the same way as Borders, and we’re excited to see what they can bring to a eBook and eReader market dominated by Amazon’s Kindle.