There have been constant rumors circulating about the impending launch of the second version of Amazon wildly popular budget tablet – the Kindle Fire.
Amazon Inc. has sufficient clout in its brand name alone to dominate headlines and the budget tablet market sector for the next few months, with little opposition that’s likely to stand in its way.
Amazon did have a constant rival for all its offerings though. Barnes & Noble has been a constant thorn in the side of Jeff Bezos’ company all through its existence, and their competing offerings went beyond just book retail.
They launched a competing E Ink eBook reader called the Nook shortly after the launch of Amazon’s own Kindle eReader. The Kindle Fire had a competitor in the form of B & N’s Nook Tablet as well.
B & N probably doesn’t have a successor to its existing offerings coming into the market any time soon from the looks of it.
Hence, it has done the next best thing to eat into the Kindle Fire 2’s sales – significant price cuts. According to a press release from the company, the Nook Color and Nook Tablet have had their prices slashed to $149 and $179 respectively.
While the B&N price cuts may not necessarily dent the new Kindles’ sales to a significant extent, it helps the Nooks stay a lot more relevant till they get their own successors to shop shelves.
You can read the Barnes & Noble press release below:
08/13/2012
Barnes & Noble Announces Lowest Prices Ever on Award-Winning NOOK Tablet™ and NOOK Color™
Amazing Products at Best Value: NOOK Tablet As Low As $179 and NOOK Color Just $149
New York, New York – August 12, 2012 – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today announced amazing new, lowest-ever pricing on its award-winning NOOK Tablet and NOOK Color devices, just in time for the back to school season. Starting today customers can purchase the highly acclaimed NOOK Tablet starting at $179 and NOOK Color for $149 at all of Barnes & Noble’s nearly 700 stores nationwide, online at NOOK.com and through the other leading retailers offering NOOK® products.
Customers seeking a fast, lightweight tablet with an incredible 7-inch VividView™ display and long-lasting battery life will love the popular NOOK Tablet, now available at $179 for the 8GB model and $199 for the 16GB version. NOOK Tablet offers access to the world’s largest digital library of more than 2.5 million titles, popular movies, TV shows, music and more, plus thousands of high-quality NOOK Apps™, fast Web browsing, e-mail and expandable memory. NOOK Color provides tablet essentials at a great value for only $149. The 7-inch device is ideal for reading and exploring a variety of great content including books, magazines, interactive children’s books, apps, access to top video and music services, e-mail and Web browsing.
“Our Reader’s Tablets have consistently been the highest rated products by the leading technology experts and now they’re available for the lowest prices ever,” said Jamie Iannone, President of Digital Products at Barnes & Noble. “With NOOK Color for $149 and NOOK Tablet starting at $179, customers can enjoy our best-in-class digital reading and entertainment experience with an expansive selection of digital content and apps at an unbeatable price.”
All NOOK customers can shop Barnes & Noble’s expansive NOOK Store™ of more than 2.5 million digital titles, and the ability to enjoy their NOOK content across a wide array of popular devices. Barnes & Noble offers always free in-store NOOK support for customers to set up and learn how to use their new device face-to-face with friendly neighborhood NOOKsellers.
