Barnes & Noble Nook E-Reader On Sale Tuesday For $259

Barnes & Noble looks set to one up Amazon with the release of the Nook E-Reader now confirmed for this coming Tuesday.

Details of the Nook first leaked last week, but the release date has now been confirmed by an ad booked in the New York Times (so reports the New York Times..so much for client confidentiality.)

Despite the awkward name, the Nook is more than going to give Amazon’s Kindle a serious run for its money. As well as coming in at the same price as the Kindle, the Nook sports a full color touch screen for navigation (ala iPhone) with a standard black and white e-ink screen for reading.

Better still, according to the ad Barnes & Noble has placed, the Nook will offer consumers “access over one million e-books, newspapers and magazines” but of that one million, around 500,000 of the books available will be offered for free through Google’s database of public domain works.

Details on where it the Nook will be sold are still unconfirmed, although naturally it will be available from Barnes & Noble itself. One report suggests that the Nook will also be available to buy from Best Buy. There are no details yet as to whether the Nook will be available outside the United States, or whether it offers mobile access over a phone network for purchases on the go.

Unconfirmed but possible is rumors that the Nook runs on Google Android, which may well mean that as well as books that the Nook will also offer proper web browsing, widgets and more.