• Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Friday, March 6, 2009 10:34 AM

Barnes & Noble, which was an early proponent of electronic books -- only to reverse itself in 2003 citing a lack of interest -- has acquired Fictionwise, a leading retailer of e-books. B&N says it will launch a new e-bookstore this year, Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg reports, as the market heats up.

Fictionwise co-founder Stephen Pendergrast says the company has sold as many as five million e-books; romance now accounts for 50% of all sales. He estimates total e-book sales in the U.S. at $100 million in 2008.

The purchase comes a few days after Amazon said it is making its Kindle e-books available for reading on Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch devices.

The Financial Times says that Barnes & Noble is considering launching its own e-reader to compete with Amazon's Kindle device. It is hiring software engineers for mobile and digital content work, Jonathan Birchall reports, with advertisements suggesting it may also follow Amazon into other digital media downloads. William Lynch, the new COO of B&N's online business, declined to comment.

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