Borders launches electronic book store, tries to catch up to rivals Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Borders Group Inc. launches electronic bookstore

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Borders Group’s electronic bookstore is live. The retailer says it wants to snag 17 percent of the market by next July.

Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble already have a head start on the small but growing market, both selling electronic books and their readers.

Borders is pinning its sales pitch on selling books that can be used across multiple devices, including its own Kobo-branded reader.

The market is expected to be a major part of the book industry’s future.

Borders is offering more than 1.5 million titles and thousands of free ones at its store in formats such as mobile, PDF and ePub.