American retail giant Best Buy has today confirmed its store shelves are to keep Barnes & Noble's twin-screen Nook electronic book reader together with free BN eReader software for PCs, notebooks, tablets and smart phones.

The $259.99 Nook will be on sale at Best Buy's 1,070 US stores on April 18. Apple's iPad starts at $499.99. The entry-level Sony Reader is $199.99. Amazon's Kindle, the best e-reader at $259, is sold out only through Amazon. com.

The Nook received poor reviews when it was released late the previous year, with critics saying it was rushed to the market.

Barnes & Noble's Nook is coming to Best Buy, a development that introduces the Kindle-like e-reader to the electronics retailer's tech-buff customers.

Starting Sunday April 18, Best Buy will feature Nook shows in its 1,070 U. S. stores. Customers will be able to try and buy the Nook, or buy it from one of the retailer's website.

Today's announcement verifies last week's rumors that the Nook was coming to Best Buy. Everyone is waiting to hear whether Target will sell the Amazon Kindle, another tidbit of e-reader rumor that seems possible, mainly in light of the Apple iPad's headline-grabbing launch previously this month.

Style sells, certainly, and the moderately dull Nook may have a hard time challenging the flashy iPad, which Best Buy also sells.

Definitely, the plan of cloistering the Nook in its own stall makes sense, chiefly as it lets a Best Buy staffer to express the e-reader's qualities far from the wows of the iPad-loving crowd.

Up till now, the only place to see and try Barnes & Noble's e-reader was at the retailer's bookstores, most of which had well-known Nook stalls near their entries. This hard-to-get approach may have partial preliminary sales, but possibly that was a good thing.

The Nook had an unstable entrance late last year, one weighed down by supply shortages and less-than-stellar reviews varying from unenthusiastic to absolute hostile. Barnes & Noble has since issued software patches to exact some of the Nook's early glitches.