Amazon launched its latest e-reader, Kindle Paperwhite, earlier in September, aimed to compete directly with rival Nook GlowLight. Now Barnes & Noble has reduced the price of its Nook GlowLight just ahead of the shipment date of Kindle Paperwhite on Oct. 1.

Two major U.S. retailers, Target and Wal-mart, are now advertising the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight for $119 which is $20 less than the original price. The Kindle Paperwhite is also priced exactly at $119, which, unlike the Nook, includes "Special Offers" advertisements.

The Nook GlowLight, launched earlier this year, struggled to keep up with the demand of the tablet. "Due to popular demand, orders placed today are expected to ship the week of October 22nd. Limit five per customer," stated Kindle Paperwhite pre-order page on Amazon. Now, it seems that Amazon is also having similar supply issues with the Paperwhite.

The Kindle Paperwhite sports a 6-inch capacitive touch screen with 1,024 x 768 pixels resolution and 212ppi. Amazon claims up to eight weeks of battery life from the device with the light on at half brightness (based on 30 minutes of use a day with Wi-Fi off). The device has 2GB of on-board storage.

Amazon's patented built-in light offer a perfect reading experience in all lighting conditions. "Paperwhite guides light towards the display from above instead of projecting it out at your eyes like back-lit displays, thereby reducing screen fatigue. You can adjust your screen's brightness to create a perfect reading experience in all lighting conditions, from bright sunlight to bedtime reading," states Amazon's Web site.

The Kindle Paperwhite also includes the Time to Read feature, which lets users know how long it will take to finish a chapter or a book. Time to Read can be personalized based on a user's reading speed and is updated as the user's reading speed changes. With this new feature, users can conveniently decide when to start a new chapter or finish the chapter they were reading.

The Kindle Paperwhite packs several robust features, which are required in an e-reader. However, with competition from players like Barnes's & Noble and Kobo, Amazon will have to wait and see if its latest e-reader is good enough to beat the competition.