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Nook Color, Nook Tablet Get Price Cuts But Still Don’t Have New Features

There’s a press release going out today from B&N.

It seems that with the release of the Nook HD and Nook HD+ there’s even less of a demand for the Nook Color than there was this Spring when B&N twice offered it as a BOGO deal.

So they have cut the price. The Nook Color is now selling for $139, and you can get the Nook Tablet for only $20 and $40 more.

I have to say that I am a little surprised; I was under the impression that the Nook Color had been discontinued. But I guess discontinued doesn’t mean quite the same thing for B&N as it does for the rest of the world; after all, they did keep selling the original Nook  well into 2012.

That would suggest that the Nook Color is also going to be around for a while, and it’s going to have some interesting effects on the budget tablet market.

The Nook Color is likely never going to get Nook Video or the other cool new features of the Nook HD (same goes for the Nook Tablet), so it’s not ever going to treated as anything but B&N’s second class ereader. Even so, the Nook Color represents a new lower threshold for color ereaders. Its 7″ screen and 800 MHz CPU is going to make budget tablet makers work a little harder to make cheaper devices, and that is a good thing all around.

 

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Comments


cookie November 3, 2012 um 4:55 pm

800 MHz

Tyler November 3, 2012 um 5:15 pm

Its a good reader just not a good tablet.


fjtorres November 3, 2012 um 6:36 pm

Discontinued = "No longer in production but available until we clear out the warehouse or the end of time". (So now they’re waiting for the end of time like a bat out of hell.) 😉
Some of those miight still be floating around for another 3 years. It’s not as if they can afford to write off the things without tanking the stock price.

Nate Hoffelder November 4, 2012 um 4:09 pm

Yep. This says a lot about how poor the sales have been.


Thomas November 3, 2012 um 9:59 pm

I don’t see why this would have a big effect on the budget tablet market. You can get an A13-based tablet with a 1 GHz processor and a 7′ screen for less than $80. The Nook Color is still way overpriced for its specs.

Tyler November 3, 2012 um 11:06 pm

Those tablets are crap too. The Nook Color is a reader unless you want to root it. Out of the box, the web browser and apps run slow. You need the Nook Tablet to run stuff decently. It is still a good reader though.

steve November 4, 2012 um 11:17 am

But doe it have 160 ppi? The NOOK Color still has the screen and the wide open bootloader going for it.

cookie November 4, 2012 um 4:13 pm

give me the specs on those budget tablets' batteries. I bet they suck in comparison to the Nook Color.

Thomas November 4, 2012 um 9:05 pm

Well, my Polaroid gets about 10 hours playing video with the wifi off, 6.5 with the wifi on. I know that a lot of low end tablets have lousy batteries, but some are pretty good.


oj829 November 4, 2012 um 1:07 pm

Even my husband, who will only part with his NC when it’s pried from his cold dead hands, thinks it’s a bit on the heavy side for long reading sessions. On the upside, pictures don’t do the NC justice: it’s a surprisingly nice looking piece of hardware "in the flesh".

But even at $139, it seems pointless (I paid $149 a year ago for a b’day present.) since only $60 more will get you something in 2012 that is as different as night from day, and doesn’t have any of B&N’s built-in problems (apps, for starters).

Throw in the N2A card, and YMMV, of course. necessarily


steve November 4, 2012 um 4:00 pm

Makes no sense why would they release nook video app for other devices including ms Apple android smart tv’s phones but not there own devices mabey the y won’t receive all the bell and whistles but come on they aren’t going to put it on every other devices but there own.


flyingtoastr November 4, 2012 um 5:07 pm

"The Nook Color is likely never going to get Nook Video or the other cool new features of the Nook HD (same goes for the Nook Tablet), so it’s not ever going to treated as anything but B&N’s second class ereader. "

[source required]

BN hasn’t even officially launched the service yet, eh.

Nate Hoffelder November 4, 2012 um 5:14 pm

They won’t even hint at a timetable:
https://the-digital-reader.com/2012/09/28/bn-has-no-plans-to-update-the-nook-tablet/

flyingtoastr November 4, 2012 um 8:40 pm

All they said that they don’t plan on upgrading the NT to ICS. They never said anything about not adding NOOK Video content, and from a business perspective they have no reason not to.

BN hasn’t released a timetable publicly for anything recently, regardless. The closest we ever got was the announcement that they would give a Froyo update for the NC by the next spring, and when they had to delay that people went so apeshit I don’t blame them for never publicly committing to anything again.

Nate Hoffelder November 4, 2012 um 8:42 pm

No, I asked about Nook Video and the other new features. I didn’t ask about ICS.


Tyler November 5, 2012 um 8:54 am

I saw the Nook Tablet HD 9 inch screen yesterday at a Barnes and Noble. The video was very nice and it is very light. Sound should have been better but it just has the one speaker in the back. Display is very nice. They don’t have the 7 inch tablets yet but suppose to in the next couple of days. Supplies are coming from NY and NJ areas so with Sandy, it is slowing things down which is a bit understandable.


PJ November 6, 2012 um 11:42 pm

An item was discontinued, and so they have lowered the price to sell through existing stock. Why in the world would you expect it to have new features?

You also seem to have decided entirely on your own that the nook color will never be updated; B&N has not commented on this.

Cute story.

Nate Hoffelder November 7, 2012 um 7:10 am

Actually, B&N did comment on this. Like I told another commenter, I asked about an update for the Nook Tablet. They would not make any commitment.

Tyler November 7, 2012 um 8:37 am

If they did update the old Nook Color/Tablets, then the video content would have a wider potential of customers. The new video content brings in more revenue, especially for those not wanting to upgrade to the newer Nooks. That’s why they should.


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