Barnes & Noble may be gearing up to enter the e-reader market, joining Amazon's Kindle 2 and Sony's Reader family in an increasingly competitive arena.

The book retail giant is working with a device-maker and Sprint on its own answer to the Kindle, according to TheStreet.com, which cites an unnamed wireless industry insider.

The move would continue Barnes & Noble's (NYSE: BKS) aggressive moves into the digital book space, an industry that's become closely watched and increasingly competitive with the debut of Amazon's popular e-book reader, the Kindle.

Amazon's two-month-old revamp of its product, the Kindle 2, sports a number of design, storage and battery life enhancements and was followed up with the announcement of a free, Kindle-compatible e-book reader for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch, downloadable from Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) App Store.

If Barnes & Noble is planning a similar strategy of its own, however, it's keeping quiet. Spokespeople for the company would only reiterate comments made by CEO Steve Riggio during a recent earnings call.

Get the full story here at InternetNews.com.