Barnes & Noble advances mobile e-book strategy against Amazon

Barnes & Noble, which just jumped into the electronic book market, is quickly ramping up its mobile e-book strategy. The bookseller, which acquired e-book retailer Fictionwise a few weeks ago, announced that Fictionwise's free eReader application is now available for BlackBerry users. The eReader is already a popular app on the iPhone. Barnes & Noble's move sets up a new competition with Amazon, which recently launched its own Kindle app for the iPhone and is targeting other mobile devices.

Here's more from the Fictionwise announcement:

With over one million downloads, the eReader application has become one of the most popular ways to read books on mobile devices and smartphones. The new BlackBerry version of eReader features flexible controls that allow the user to adjust the application as they wish to ensure a heightened reading experience. The ability to change font sizes improves readability in any lighting condition, while navigation features such as bookmarks, linked Table of Contents, and text search simplify locating specific pages and chapters.

The eReader app will work with any BlackBerry device "released within the past few years," according to the announcement. In addition to the iPhone, the eReader works with Palm, Windows Mobile, PocketPC and Symbian smartphones, and Windows and Mac laptops or full-sized computers.

Amazon launched its Kindle 2 electronic reader last month and quickly followed up with a Kindle app for the iPhone. The company has indicated it's developing applications for other mobile devices.

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