Fans of the Nook e-reader who don’t want to shell out $250 for the color version will be happy to hear that Barnes & Nobles has finally introduced its newest, cheaper e-Reader today, turning up the heat for Amazon’s Kindle.

The Nook Simple Touch Reader is a 6-inch E-Ink touch-screen reader which will sell for $139 starting next month, SmartMoney reports. It won’t eat into sales of its more expensive Nook Color, as the two devices fulfill different needs for customers. The Nook Color is more about tablet functions while the e-Reader is about, well, reading.

“These two markets both have exclusive growth,” Chief Executive William Lynch told MarketWatch. “We expect a lot of growth from both. There are people who are interested in reading, but are turned off by keys and buttons.”

Lynch claims the Nook has longer battery life, saying it’s about double the Kindle, and it only features one button as opposed to Kindle’s 38. And with these new readers set to ship around June 10, the original Nook will eventually be retired.

New, Less Expensive Nook Takes on the Kindle [SmartMoney]

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