Barnes and Noble has been running so many sales on their Nook devices lately that it’s hard to keep up with all the different promotions.
This time around it’s more than just a sale, though. In the ever competitive market of Android tablets, the Nook Color and both models of the Nook Tablet have received permanent price drops.
The 16GB Nook Tablet has gone from $249 to $199, the 8GB Nook Tablet is down $20 to $179, and the Nook Color has gone from $169 to $149.
The E Ink Nook Touch and Nook Glow didn’t receive a price drop, however, just the LCD models.
There are some refurbished Nooks at Overstock that are pretty cheap too. They have a Nook Touch for $60 and a Nook Color for $115.
All the major tech sites have been abuzz lately with rumors of Amazon releasing a new Kindle Fire or two, along with an E Ink Kindle with a lighted screen, but not much is being said about Barnes and Noble’s next device.
These price drops could be a sign that B&N is getting set to release a new tablet too. Perhaps a new and improved Nook Tablet is just around the corner. Or maybe B&N will finally release a 10″ model aimed at the education market with a focus on digital textbooks and study tools.
Whatever it is, Barnes and Noble is going to have to do something different to stand out from the crowd. Even at these lower prices it’s hard to choose a Nook over something like the Google Nexus 7.
Also important for Barnes & Noble rewards members: we will no longer be receiving a discount on Nook devices. As a rewards member, I could always get a $20 – $25 discount on Nook Touch or Tablet devices, no matter what sale they were running. At one point, I could get a brand new Nook Touch for $61. But now they are now eliminating this discount from the program.
I think what B&N may also be concerned about is the idea of Apple launching a 7 inch form factor iPad. The biggest revelation to come out of the Samsung/Apple lawsuit was an internal Apple email where everyone at Apple, including Steve Jobs, was in favor of introducing a 7 inch iPad.
It’s already been proven that the e-ink ereader 6 inch screen is pretty much the standard sweet spot. Could 7 inch be the standard sweet spot for tablets?
Jim, I have my doubts. Over at TeleRead, Joanna Cabot noted that while Android phones are making huge inroads against the established iPhone (current sales are reported 4 Android per iPhone), Android *tablets* are selling quite poorly.
Cabot posits that the 7-inch size is a big liability: “7 inches just isn’t a big enough screen for me to be productive with. … For what the usage market is of a smaller tablet, people don’t need computer-level feature sets—or for that matter, computer-level prices.” Meaning the Kindle Fire or NOOK Tablet is good enough for them… and cheaper. Which B&N’s reduced prices emphasize.
The Nexus 7 will be the acid test. It needs to be a huge success, or the 7″ Android tablet is over.
There is a lot of data out there now to support what you are saying in regards to cellphone market share. The latest stat I read found that Android phones are outselling iPhones by a 4:1 ratio. The larger screens of Andriod phones (4.5″ to 4.7″) and Play appstore access has become more appealing than the sleek iPhone 4S. That is why the iPhone 5 will have a larger display.
I am an iPhone 4S user, but I recently became very jealous after I played around with a friend’s HTC One X (Super IPS LCD2 capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 720 x 1280 pixels, 4.7 inches with ~312 ppi pixel density). Long form eReading is very possible on the iPhone 4S, but with the One X is was MUCH easier with a lot less page turning.
With so many full-featured tablets on the market now for about the same price, the highly restricted Nook tablets are becoming irrelevant. Last week I bought a 10.1″ Acer A200 for $269 on Amazon. It runs circles around the Nook. I installed a Nook app, so it can do everything the Nook does and a whole lot more.
My personal thinking with the 7 inch screen is the tablet would be more portable and get taken more places. For what my wife does on her iPad I think she would like a 7 inch model since it would be more portable and easier to carry. But then again I’ll admit I may not know everything the pundits know.
I suppose it comes down to the bit about, “for what my wife does on her iPad,” which suggests she’s not a “power user.” Can her needs be met as readily by a Kindle Fire or a NOOK Tablet? Or by a smartphone?
I’m no pundit, and I don’t claim to know. I’m just passing along what I’ve read elsewhere.
Doug, what I assume is when someone buys into the Apple products they are not going to see other platforms as a substitute unless the product is not available. 7 inch Android would not be the same experience as a 7 inch iPad. But then again this is one specific situation so I’m not implying that it’s the norm. Apple may claim they don’t do market research and frankly I don’t believe them. I think they very well do market research.
The pros and cons of different screen sizes and portability factors are highly subjective judgements, and only you can decide what is best for you. Personally, I’m glad I was able to find an affordable 10-incher. 7-inch just seemed a little too small for reading web sites.
Bear in mind that a 10-inch screen isn’t exactly “big.” It’s almost exactly the same size and shape as a standard sheet of 8.5″x11″ paper folded in half, about 45 square inches. A 7 inch screen is about half of that, or roughly equal to a quarter-sheet of paper, about 22 square inches. Start folding paper and compare them side by side.
Of course, a 7 inch tablet weighs about half of what a 10 inch tablet weighs, so that’s also a consideration.