The rumors were true. Barnes & Noble today expanded its portfolio of NOOK devices with the introduction of NOOK Tablet – with 8GB of memory for $199, making it directly competitive with the $199 Amazon Kindle Fire which also has 8GB of memory. In addition, the company’s earlier NOOK Color, which was $199 was lowered to $169.
The new NOOK Tablet has the same features of top-selling $249 16GB NOOK Tablet, but with 8GB of on-board memory, 512MB of RAM and a lower cost. The 8GB version of the NOOK Tablet – includes all of the same features also available on NOOK Tablet – 16GB ($249):
- A highly tuned 1GHz dual-core processor for streaming video and lightning-fast Web browsing so customers can surf their favorite sites, and built-in email to stay easily connected with friends and family
- Breakthrough battery life, with 11.5 hours of reading time or nine hours of video viewing
- With on-board storage plus convenient microSD memory expansion, customers have ample space for their reading and entertainment content, regardless of Wi-Fi availability
- The world’s most advanced VividView display for viewing content, with 16 million colors and a resolution purity that’s simply gorgeous
- Popular movies, TV shows and music from top services including Netflix, Hulu Plus™, Flixster, Pandora®, Rhapsody®, Grooveshark, MOG and many more.
- Thousands of top-rated, high-quality NOOK Apps, all optimized for NOOK Tablet’s ultra-responsive 7-inch color touchscreen, in categories including Games, Kids, Travel, Education, Lifestyle & Interest, News & Weather, Social, Productivity and others. Favorites including Cut the Rope, Disney Publishing’s It’s a Small World and more are coming soon to the robust NOOK Apps catalog.
Barnes & Noble features more than 2.5 million digital books, periodicals, children’s books and apps, including:
- NOOK Newsstand: An expansive collection of more than 450 digital periodical titles with animated page turns and smooth pinch, zoom and panning.
- NOOK Kids: More than 1,400 interactive children’s picture books, some featuring animation and engaging activities. With Read and Record™, customers can use NOOK Tablet’s built-in microphone to record and save their reading of any NOOK Kids picture books.
- NOOK Comics: Full-color comics, graphic novels and kids’ comics in high resolution and the largest digital collection of Marvel’s graphic novels, as well as other titles from leading publishers including Archie, IDW and Dynamite.
- Books and more: Continuously expanded NOOK Store with the vast majority of books available for $9.99 or less.
- Nook App Store: Thousands of Apps, in dozens of categories.
Barnes & Noble hopes to advance a narrative of momentum and the power of bricks-and-mortar bookstores in its third-quarter earnings report this morning. Revenues were $2.4 billion, up 5 percent from last year, with earnings of $52 million on $0.71 per share—lower than analysts’ estimated $1.01 per share. In-store sales increased 2 percent over last year, to $1.49 billion, though comparable store sales grew more slowly than this time last year. Sales at BN.com increased 32 percent over last year, to $420 million, and consolidated Nook business increased 38 percent to $542 million. E-Book Market Share Appears Flat Including the 8 GB Nook Tablet launched this morning, Barnes & Noble has released three new devices since its 3Q 2011 earnings report, yet it is not gaining much market share against Amazon, reports Paid Content.
