Microsoft teamed up Monday with US bookselling large Barnes & Noble in a venture aimed toward grabbing a larger share of the rapidly growing marketplace for electronic books.
The world's biggest software group can create a $300 million investment in an exceedingly new Barnes & Noble subsidiary specializing in
the bookseller's digital reading capabilities, including its Nook tablet, and its faculty businesses.
The move seems to end an extended patent dispute between the 2 corporations and brings them together to battle Amazon's fashionable Kindle pill and ebook reader, also because the surging Apple iPad.
The Nook, that is the B&N competitor within the segment, will get an application for Microsoft's Windows eight operating system.
This "will extend the reach of Barnes & Noble's digital bookstore by providing one among the globe's largest digital catalogues of e-books, magazines and newspapers to hundreds of scores of Windows customers in the US and internationally," a joint statement said.
The investment will offer Microsoft a 17.6% stake in the as-nevertheless unnamed unit that "will accelerate the transition to e-reading, which is revolutionizing the approach people consume, create, share and relish digital content," the statement said.
In January, Barnes & Noble -- whose market price has plummeted in recent times -- had announced plans to spin off its digital business to maximise price for its shareholders.
"The shift to digital is putting the world's libraries and newsstands within the palm of each person's hand, and is the beginning of a journey that can impact how folks read, interact with, and relish new varieties of content," said Microsoft president Andy Lees.
The company's input would "accelerate e-reading innovation across a broad range of Windows devices," Lees said.
It wasn't set whether the separation of the new unit will involve a brand new stand-alone company, consistent with the statement.
In February Barnes & Noble unveiled a replacement version of its Nook tablet, with the same $99 price tag as Amazon's Kindle Fire.
The announcement comes weeks when the US Justice Department sued Apple and 5 publishing firms alleging a conspiracy to raise costs and limit competition for e-books.
Because the antitrust suit was unveiled, officials said 3 of the publishers agreed to finish the scheme to force retailers like Amazon to just accept a new pricing arrange that ended their ability to supply discounts for electronic books.
