A Microsoft e-reader coming soon?

The e-reader market is expanding at an ever-increasing pace. It's true that this is not yet the case in France, but it is in the United States.

Since the launch of the Kindle by Amazon, many companies have set out to compete with this leader in the e-book market. In France, for example, Fnac launched its Kobo by Fnac a few months ago.

Today we learn that Microsoft intends to join the e-book battle. The Redmond-based firm has just invested a large sum of money in Barnes & Nobles, which already has its own e-reader, the Nook. By buying $300 million of the company, Microsoft is acquiring 17.6 % of Barnes & Nobles. All of which means it will be well-equipped to counter Amazon's Kindle, which is winning over a large number of people around the world.

With this intention of supplying a reading device, Microsoft also intends to integrate a «Nook» application into the future OS: Windows 8. We'll keep an eye on this as Windows 8 is expected to be launched after the summer holidays.

As well as entering the e-reader market, this investment by Microsoft puts an end to the dispute between the two companies. Microsoft had accused Barnes & Nobles of patent infringement. All in all, it's two good things in one for Microsoft!