Main image of article Barnes & Noble Heats Up eReader Competition with Touchscreen Nook

Well, well, well. Guess who seems to have been reading each other's internal memos? Barnes & Noble and Borders bookstores. How so? Just yesterday, I wrote about Borders' upcoming touchscreen Kobo eReader, and today Barnes & Noble announces it has a brand new NOOK that is also touchscreen. These two booksellers, who once ruled the bricks-and-mortar world, have been in a world of hurt with the growth of Internet giant, Amazon.com. In recent years, Amazon has added to that pain by championing eBooks and its Kindle eReader. But Borders and B&N aren't sitting still and taking it, as both of their eReaders are aimed squarely at competing with the Kindle, particularly on price. And now they're really showing they mean business with their new touchscreen models. However, I'd be shocked if Amazon doesn't either roll out a new touchscreen version of the Kindle, and/or another major price break, and/or a tablet computer a la the iPad soon. Oh and lest I forget, here are the tech specs on the new NOOK: six-inch touchscreen; E Ink Pearl of course; weight under 8 oz; an amazing two-month battery life; only 2GB but has also has a MicroSD slot that holds up to a 32GB card; WiFi; supports ePub, PDF, graphics files like JPG and GIF; price of $139. The new NOOK rolls out June 10 -- just in time for Father's Day -- and ships for free. As if all that wasn't enough, Amazon also just rolled out a 3G version of its ad-supported Kindle, $25 cheaper than the regular model at $164.