When the iPad launched earlier this year, one of the real treats for me was exploring the myriad of ebook reading options.  Not only was the highly touted iBooks and its accompanying Apple book store sitting there front and center, but much to many users’ surprise, we also found an incredible Kindle app, backed by the full Amazon bookstore and the Borders with its Kobo ereading app, backed, of course, by Borders extensive library. 

I have to admit that I was pretty shocked to find every major bookseller hitting the iPad right off the…waitaminute.  iBooks, Borders, Amazon…hang on, something is definitely missing.  One of the biggest mysteries for me on launch day was what the heck happened to Barnes & Noble?  They had a pretty good iPhone app, yet they were no where to be found on the iPad.  While everyone marveled over Apple’s new iBooks; Amazon’s Kindle killer, Kindle for iPad; and Border’s oddly named but fully functional Kobo, Barnes & Noble seems to slip out of the collective consciousness of iPad users. 

Well, the wait is now over.  Today (finally) Barnes & Noble released its BN eReader app to the iPad App Store.  Only time will tell how the BN eReader app will measure up to the other eBook readers available for the iPad.  I will say, however, that I am thrilled to find that Barnes & Noble finally brought its own extensive selection of books to the iPad.  Now, we can truly say that all of the major booksellers are available on the iPad…and there is nothing wrong with that.

Let’s take a quick look at what BN eReader brings to the table:

• Over one million titles
• LendMe technology lets you share the books in your personal library with friends
• Free samples of any book in the Barnes & Noble library
• Completely customizable interface
• Notes
• Free dictionary built into the app
• Attractive interface

The BN eReader for iPad is available for free from the iTunes App Store.  It is currently the number two ranked free app.