Want Barnes & Noble’s Nook e-reader? You’ll need to wait a bit longer than originally expected. B&N had been saying that the gadget would ship in late November, but now is reporting that the new orders for Nooks won’t be fulfilled until December 18th–a few weeks after the first orders will go out.

On paper, the Nook still looks like a formidable competitor to Amazon’s Kindle, with a color touchscreen interface, both broadband and Wi-Fi, a book-loaning feature, compatibility with the ePub e-book standard, and additional clients that Kindle doesn’t yet have (Mac and BlackBerry). I’m looking forward to getting my hands on one. Anyone out there hankering for an e-reader but holding off until the Nook shows up?