Barnes & Noble teaming with Sprint for Kindle rival?

Bookstore chain Barnes & Noble is reportedly collaborating with Sprint and an unidentified manufacturer to develop an ebook device to rival Amazon.com's Kindle [1]. The Street.com reports Barnes & Noble turned to Sprint as an operator partner after negotiations with Verizon Wireless broke down; sources suggest AT&T may be in the running as well. (Kindle content is delivered to the device via Whispernet, which utilizes Amazon's optimized technology in combination with Sprint's national 3G data network.)

Last month, Barnes & Noble acquired digital book retailer Fictionwise for $15.7 million--weeks later, Fictionwise announced [2] the beta test release of eReader for BlackBerry, a free ebook application optimized for the Research In Motion device portfolio. The eReader software was previously available for Apple's iPhone and iPod touch as well as Symbian and Windows Mobile smartphones.

For more on the Barnes & Noble/Sprint rumors:
- read this article [3] from The Street.com