Move over Kindle, Barnes & Noble wants a piece of that ebook reader pie.

A few days ago, The Wall Street Journal (registration required) broke the news that well-known bookseller Barnes & Noble was about to launch its own ebook reader.  This is no huge surprise as the company launched an ebook store back in July, and it has been rumored for some time that the company wanted to take on Amazon’s Kindle.

This all has remained rumor since the announcement as the company wouldn’t comment, but The New York Times is now reporting that Barnes & Noble has a press event for an unknown announcement set for October 20th.  It would make sense to launch this new item before the all important holiday shopping season, but don’t get too excited quite yet.

Jennifer Van Grove of Mashable, my former employers, spoke with a Barnes & Noble representative at the CITA show in San Diego this week, and he confirmed the device, but with a drastically different release date.

According to this short interview, the device isn’t due until spring 2010, and no price is known, but the big news here is that it will be a color screen.

I have long said a color screen would be the game changer when it came to ebook readers as it means that they will now be able to handle textbooks with ease.  The only question remaining now is the price.  Some rumors indicate there will be low-end and high-end models, but if the price is still too high for your average consumer, this will remain a niche product.  If they can get it down to a manageable price, get it into universities due to its color screen, and you could have a major hit product on your hands.