Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Barnes & Noble Inc.’s Nook device for reading digital versions of books, introduced last month, is sold out and new orders won’t ship until after Christmas.

The retailer said last month when it introduced the $259 device that it would ship purchases by Nov. 30. Orders placed after Nov. 19 will ship the week of Jan. 4, the New York-based company said today. Shoppers who want to give the product as a gift can have a holiday certificate shipped to the recipient.

“While we increased production based on the high consumer interest, we’ve sold out of our initial Nook allotment available for delivery before the holidays,” Mary Ellen Keating, a Barnes & Noble spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.

The Nook is Barnes & Noble’s entry into an electronic- reader market dominated by Amazon.com Inc. and Sony Corp. The Nook has a color touch-screen for navigation not found on Amazon.com’s Kindle or Sony’s Reader.

Barnes & Noble, the biggest U.S. bookstore chain, fell 1 cent to $22.30 at 4:01 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The Wall Street Journal reported the shipping delay earlier today.

Amazon.com, based in Seattle, controls about 45 percent of e-reader sales in the U.S., followed by Tokyo-based Sony, with 30 percent, according to ISuppli Corp., an El Segundo, California-based research company.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Clothier in Atlanta at mclothier@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 20, 2009 16:23 EST