The latest version of Barnes and Noble's Nook e-reader features color touch screen and Wi-fi web browsing. Out in time for Christmas will it challenge Amazon's Kindle and depress iPad sales?

A color ebook reader for a budget price still isn't quite with us but its getting close to the Amazon Kindle's non-color entry level price of $134, and it's much cheaper than an iPad and its got a touch screen. This one could be the winner - until more color/touch ebook readers join the fray!

The Nookcolor, built on Google's Android 2.1 operating system, is now available for $249 for pre-order online or in Barnes & Noble stores and will begin shipping around November 19.

It features a 7-inch VividView Color LCD IPS, LED backlit touch screen display [1024 x 600 pixels, 169ppi],  adjustable font, 6000 e-books equivalent 8GB built-in memory, 32GB expandable memory, USB port and built-in Wi-Fi.

SUPPORTED FILE FORMATS. Nook Color supports EPUB, PDF, XLS, DOC, PPT, PPS, TXT, DOCM, XLSM, PPTM, PPSX, PPSM, DOCX, XLX, and PPTX : Document File Formats; JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP : Image Formats; MP3, AAC : Audio File Formats (for audio books); and MP4 : Video formats.

The Nook Color comes with access to over 2 million e-books [$9.99 or less], all popular magazine and newspapers in its news-stand, ability to lend or swap books with friends and share recommendations on Facebook and Twitter, access to web & e-mail via Wi-Fi, and up to 8 hours of continuous reading with every 3 hours of charging.

Barnes & Noble, still the largest U.S. bookstore chain, launched the first version of the Nook a year ago and has already sold "well over" 1 million Nook. Having faced years of sales declines in physical books, the company is staking its future on its ability to adapt to digital bookselling and has committed $140 million to developing the Nook this fiscal year.

It is already a serious contender in the e-reader market so bringing out a color version may indeed help it challenge Amazon both for e-reader and e-book sales.

Further reading:

Amazon to allow Kindle lending

Why Kindle is the answer