Going by a Monday report in the Wall Street Journal, Barnes & Noble (B&N) will Tuesday introduce its new electronic reader which will be a prospective competitor of market-leading e-book readers - the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader.

Referring to the forthcoming October 25 issue of the New York Times Book Review, which carries a print advertisement pertaining to the B&N e-reader, the WSJ said that the tablet-sized device, to be called 'Nook,' will be unveiled at a news conference in Manhattan.

The $259-priced B&N e-reader, featuring a color touch-screen, and a white-and-gray reading display, will enable readers to download books wirelessly and lend their digital books to acquaintances. The device will be available at the B&N stores and the nook. com Website.

In its imminent advertisement for the 'Nook,' B&N has specified that its new device will allow its users to "access over one million e-books, newspapers and magazines."

As many as 500,000 books will be available at BN. com for free downloaded, thanks to B&N's agreement with Google for providing digital versions of public domain books that have been scanned by Google from university libraries.

Furthermore, Barnes & Noble has already created an e-bookstore on BN. com to sell digital editions that can be read not only on computers and laptops, but also on the Apple iPhone and the RIM BlackBerry smartphones.