

Barnes & Noble Officially Unveils The 7-Inch Nook Tablet - lgv
http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/07/barnes-noble-officially-unveils-the-7-inch-nook-tablet/

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TomOfTTB
Spec wise it beats the Kindle Fire in just about every category (More RAM,
more Storage Potential, Better Battery Life). The question is will B&N stick
with it and keep pushing.

Two things make me think they will.

1\. They recently made a deal with Appcelerator to favor apps built using
those tools and to provide more support for those developers (for those who
don't know Appcelerator allows you to write iPhone and Android apps with web
tools like RoR, Python, Javascript, CSS, etc...)

2\. They are offering support in all B&N stores.

So they're being developer friendly to get more apps created (as opposed to
Amazon where you have to give them permission to give your app away just to
get in their store). And they're working to draw in casual users.

To my eyes that makes the Nook Tablet a very attractive offering both for
consumers to buy and developers to build on.

~~~
w33ble
I'm really anxious to see some comparison videos of the two. Just because the
Nook Tablet looks better on paper doesn't mean it will be in practice. Amazon
spent a lot of time on their interface and it actually looked pretty enjoyable
to use. It looks like B&N have a tweaked interface at least, but I really want
to see them used side by side.

In any event, the timing on this announcement is pretty good. I was already
sold on the Kindle Fire but I didn't do the pre-order thing. Now B&N has put
me in "wait to see the reviews" mode at least.

~~~
TomOfTTB
Hardly the same thing but you can get a little out of Engadget's hands-on
videos...

Kindle Fire: [http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/28/amazon-kindle-fire-
impres...](http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/28/amazon-kindle-fire-impressions/)

Nook Tablet: [http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/07/barnes-and-nobles-nook-
ta...](http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/07/barnes-and-nobles-nook-tablet-gets-
real-we-go-hands-on-video/)

~~~
w33ble
Yeah, I caught the video on Engadget too, but they don't actually flip through
anything on the device, they just hold it and show you how it looks, then play
a video on it.

I want to know what the interface looks like, because the interface videos
I've seen on the Fire look pretty stellar. If the Tablet can't match the Fire,
then all the hardware specs in the world won't make it appealing to me.

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thematt
I think the Nook is B&N's last attempt at salvaging their company, but
ultimately I don't think they can win. Amazon can destroy them in pricing and
make up for it with the follow-on purchases that people will make of books,
media, etc. B&N simply cannot afford (financially) to take a loss on the
hardware. If they wanted to -- Amazon could start giving away Kindle's for
free (or dirt cheap) to Prime subscribers and it would probably destroy B&N.

~~~
shrikant
Also, I don't know what split is like, but it is ridiculously easy to buy a
Kindle in the UK (and I'm going to extrapolate that to Europe). Or if that
doesn't float your boat, then just pick up a Sony or Kobo eReader - all you
need to do is walk into the any major electronics retailer.

Given that this market exists, and is being actively courted by every player
in this field, B&N will NEED to sort out global distribution somehow,
otherwise they will get crushed. Unless of course they believe a good run in
the American market alone will give them enough momentum to launch in Europe
whenever they see fit... and that's probably not going to happen.

~~~
bunderbunder
I'm already becoming dissatisfied with my Nook over B&N's failure to really
come to terms with the rest of the world. The number of non-North American
authors I follow whose work is for sale in Kindle editions but not Nook
editions isn't exactly zero.

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joebadmo
Amazon's running an ad in which people use their smartphones to take photos of
things, scan barcodes, and search to wishlist/buy things on Amazon. There's
even a scene in which a guy in a brick and mortar store _puts a package of
diapers back on the shelf_.

In other words, Amazon is actively predating on retail markets left and right,
to the extent of relegating them to display models for their own merchandise.
Media consumption is a big recent play, but they're moving forward on killing
traditional retail, too.

Meanwhile, B&N is making competent moves in the struggle to survive. It seems
almost noble in its futility.

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brudgers
Last month, I ordered Paw Wax for my 13 year old dog, and a Dremel 300 for my
son's birthday from Amazon. I'd like to think B&N can compete, but I've never
used their website and last time I bought a book from a brick and mortar
location, it was sad.

I'm old enough to remember when checking out of a book store often involved a
short conversation about books rather than a "No Thanks" to a Godaddy like
gauntlet of magazine subscription offers and membership cards coupled with
watching another human being humiliate theirself.

Sorry but I don't care if B&N puts tits in the box with their tablet, I have
no love for the brand.

~~~
bunderbunder
They really need to get that gauntlet under control. In the past, there have
been times where I was on the fence about a purchase and the tie-breaker was
that I did not want to deal with getting pestered about the loyalty program
_yet again_.

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drewda
The Nooks run Android underneath, right? Any idea of what version of Android
will be running on this new Nook? Too much to hope for 4.0, I imagine.

~~~
ConstantineXVI
IIRC the Color runs 2.2; so I'd expect at least that. Odds are it'll be 2.3;
they've had the time to work with it. Even Google's "core partners" (Moto,
HTC) are claiming 2012 for ICS updates for their handsets, and they're
probably getting advance access vs. B&N.

~~~
ianburrell
Some of the other articles mention that the Nook Tablet runs Gingerbread.

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CapitalistCartr
The specs on this are all I could hope for, except for the display. It has the
same pixel count as my iPhone 4, spread out over four times the area. I don't
want it to have four times the pixels, but 1280x720 would be great.
Jailbroken, it'd be a perfect slab to carry.

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theshadow
Does B&N have the marketing infrastructure to compete with Amazon? I don't
think so, the Nook reader as a device is on par or better than Kindle, yet it
has had only a fraction of success as the Kindle.

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va_coder
I love the tech specs and I want to support my local B&N, so I think I'm
buying this one.

