Barnes & Nobles set to enter tablet market
Jinfo Blog

By Nancy Davis Kho

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The news from the world of eReaders continues to come fast and furious, as I reported in a VIP post a few weeks ago. The latest came this week courtesy of leaked slides from an internal presentation at Barnes and Noble - presumably related to next Monday's scheduled press conference on the company's eReader, Nook - that somehow made its way into the hands of tech site Engadget.

According to the slides, the company will announce a fully-featured  Nook Tablet, selling for $249 - clearly an answer to the Amazon Kindle Fire introduced earlier this autumn. The new device promises everything included in the Nook Color product, with the addition of HD entertainment in the form of apps for Hulu Plus, Pandora, and Netflix.  Interestingly, one of the slides shows a side-by-side comparison of the Amazon and B&N tablets and highlights the fact that web browsing isn't monitored in the Nook Tablet, which would seem to shift the onus to Amazon to address privacy concerns.

The price point is higher than the Kindle Fire ($249 vs. $199) but both are still lower than the iPad 2 ($499.) To reinforce their ability to compete on price, the introduction of the Nook Tablet will trigger price reductions for the B&N's existing Nook Color (from $249 to $199), which will also now include access to Hulu Plus, streaming music, and a host of apps. Similarly, the touch-enabled Nook, now called Nook Simple Touch, drops from $139 to $99 and the ads disappear. All of this transpires in mid-November, just in time for holiday shopping.

Amazon had its own eBook announcement this week, with the introduction of the Kindle Owner's Lending Library for Amazon Prime customers, which costs $79/year.  With the new perk, Kindle owners can borrow  from over 5,000 titles, including more than 100 current and former New York Times Bestsellers - one title at a time, with no due dates.

The way that Amazon and B&N keep raising the stakes reminds me of a ladder - with each new rung, the other competitor has to reach even higher to win the consumer's heart, through improved functionality, flexibility, or desirable content. And potential tablet/eReader buyers should enjoy every moment of this competition.

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