The Verge says a 8GB Nook Tablet is expected to launch by Barnes and Noble on February 22nd.
The Nook Tablet costs $50 more than Amazon’s $199 Kindle Fire. The new Nook looks the same as Barnes & Noble’s current $249 Android Tablet, but with less onboard storage (matching the Fire’s 8GB) with a correspondingly lower price. Walmart plans to launch this new device at 12:01AM on Wednesday, February the 22nd, says The Verge.
One nice thing about the Nook is its support for the ePub standard. Barnes and Noble’s free Nook Reader application currently supports ePub-2 and will run on a variety of mobile devices (including IOS and Android), as well as desktops and laptops.
ePub-3 could – at least theoretically – enable rich media compatibility between Nook Tablets, Android Tablets, Kindle Tablets and Apple’s iPad, incorporating many of the features seen on Apple’s new iBooks Author, Apple’s free textbook-creation tool and Textbook App, their reader.
A media-rich format like e-Pub3 is preferred by publishers because it’s designed to be a universal, cross-platform distribution standard. Future support for ePub-3 could enable the Barnes and Noble Tablet to stand out from Apple and Amazon, especially if magazine publishers adopt the ePub3 standard.
Of course Amazon is not standing still. Digitimes reports E Ink has landed a 6-inch color e-book reader module contract from Amazon.
Meanwhile, Apple is expected to introduce an upgraded processor and graphics package for the iPad 3, on March 7. Apple upgraded A5X chip on the iPad 3 is expected to deliver an ultra high-resolution display with LTE capabilities.
