eReader

The boom in e-readers and tablets -- such as the iPad, Nook and Kindle -- has resulted in Americans starting to read more books, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center.

Cheap-chic retailer Target will discontinue the sale of Kindle e-readers and Amazon-branded products. It's easy to see why Target isn't keen on enriching the enemy. But it's not business, Amazon.com: It's just personal.

If Amazon.com wants a price war, Barnes & Noble is ready to play. The struggling real-world bookseller announced this week that it's offering an 8-gigabyte version of its Nook tablet for the same $199 price point as Amazon's Kindle Fire. Meanwhile, Apple is widely expected to unveil the iPad 3 early next month.

Purists may cringe at the loss of easy-to-read E Ink screens, but it may be time to turn the page on the e-book reader. A key analyst has slashed his sales forecast for Kindles, seeing the rise of Kindle Fires, Nook Tablets, and of course, iPads as inevitable.

Soon, you might be able to buy a new Kindle at an actual, brick-and-mortar Amazon Store. The e-commerce giant is reportedly opening its first pilot store in Seattle. It's an intriguing idea, but the real question is: Why would Amazon want to?

Tablets and e-readers were a popular gift over the holidays, so much so that the number of people who own them nearly doubled between mid-December and January, a new study finds. A report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project set to be released Monday found that 29 percent of Americans owned at least one tablet or e-reader as of the beginning of this month. That's up from 18 percent who said the same in December.

Amazon has become an surprising gadget rock star. Skeptics bet against the original Kindle, which became a blockbuster, and the Kindle Fire is the first non-iPad tablet to sell well. Next stop for Amazon's gadgeteers: smartphones.

At $499 and up, Apple's iPad may not fit in your holiday budget. But how about $199 or $249 for a slightly smaller, full-featured gadget? Barnes & Noble has its Nook Tablet; Amazon has the $199 Kindle Fire. Decisions, decisions ...

If lower prices haven't swayed you into buying an e-reader, how does a steady diet of free e-books sound? Amazon.com is introducing the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, a bonus for Amazon Prime members that lets them "borrow" an e-book from a list of hundreds once a month at no additional cost.

This isn't how Barnes & Noble wanted to write its final chapters. The liquidation of rival Borders this summer should have been an opportunity to grab market share, and it's Nook e-reader should have kept it relevant. Instead, a price war is exposing the retailer's financial shortcomings.