The consumer technology world is a fierce battleground of brands vying for your attention and dollars. This fact becomes even more clear around the holidays, especially Black Friday. Without a doubt, Amazon has been scoring big with its Kindle/Fire line of e-readers and tablets which left one company grossly behind in the space, Barnes & Noble. You remember the NOOK, don’t you? While the NOOK hasn’t really gone away, it has been lost in obscurity over its main competition, Amazon’s Kindle/Fire tablets.
Amazon clearly took the lead in the e-reader space with Barnes & Noble barely bringing up the rear. Now, Barnes & Noble is trying to revive interest in their device with a brand new design and brand new price. The new NOOK will set you back $49.99, which is the lowest price it’s ever been at. The new device will have 8GB of storage with a MicroSD card slot that can hold up to a 128GB card for even more storage. It will house a 7″ screen, run Android 6.0, and have full access to the Google Play Store, basically making it a full Android tablet and not just an e-reader. It also features Barnes & Noble’s enhanced digital bookstore experience with B&N Readouts.
“We’re extremely excited to introduce our most affordable NOOK ever, just in time for the holiday shopping season, so customers can give their loved ones the gift of reading forever for less,” said Fred Argir, Chief Digital Officer at Barnes & Noble. “NOOK Tablet 7” has everything that customers expect from a NOOK, but for less than $50. It truly is the perfect present for everyone in the family, providing access to millions of NOOK Books and a universe of content at an unbeatable price.”
It remains to be seen if Barnes & Noble can make a comeback and bite into Amazon’s clinch of the e-reader/tablet market. Amazon is still selling their own devices at very competitive prices and most users associate e-readers with the name Kindle, breaking that association will be a challenge. What do you think of Barnes & Noble’s refresh of the NOOK? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
[button link=”http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com/press-release/barnes-noble-introduces-new-nook-tablet-7-affordable-nook-ever-just-49-99/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Barnes & Noble[/button]Last Updated on February 14, 2017.
