Barnes & Noble Nook sets its sights on the U.K.

U.S. bookstore chain Barnes & Noble is bringing its Nook e-reader device to the U.K, the company announced today.

The company noted that this would be the first time the Nook was made available beyond the U.S. Barnes & Noble will bring both the Nook Simple Touch and the Nook GlowLight to the new market along with a U.K. version of the Nook digital bookstore, which offers over 2.5 million books, graphic novels, and news publications for sale.

For now, however, it appears that the Nook Color and Nook Tablet won’t be available across the pond, which mimics Amazon’s decision not to offer its 7-inch Kindle Fire tablet beyond the U.S.

Despite its relative success in the U.S., the Nook already faces some tough competition in the U.K. market from the likes of Sony, Kobo, Apple/iPad, and of course Amazon’s Kindle. Amazon will prove to be a particularly difficult competitor not only because of its previous dominance in the e-book market, but also because of its partnership with major U.K. brick and mortar retail bookstore Waterstones.

Barnes & Noble plans to launch the Nook this October, just in time for the holiday shopping season.

Photo via Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat