If you'll allow us to do a little dot-connecting and hand-waving here, we think we may have just stumbled across a new version of Barnes and Noble's
Nook that drops the GSM connection and soldiers on with WiFi alone, matching up nicely with a rumor that spread across the webs not long ago. You see, the Nook's FCC ID is BNRZ100, and this thing that we just found in the FCC's filing system under Barnes and Noble's name has an ID of BNRV100 -- and the test reports are very explicit about the fact that this is for "EBOOK, WLAN, AND USB PORTS WITHOUT WWAN." WWAN, of course, is a fancy way of referring to a cellular connection, so that's that. If this thing can sell for, say, $100 less than the Nook's $260 -- a price that puts it out of reach of the average person's impulse purchase limit -- we could see some significant new uptake of the platform, we'd wager. No word on a release, but we'll keep our ears to the ground.
posted May 28th 2010 6:27PM
Interesting......
It's the equilvilant of a 3G only iPad lol
@albinomexi It'll be a shitload cheaper ....
@albinomexi Actually no, it would be the opposite of that, seeing as how this device would be WIFI only..
If this breaks $200 it's bought.
I'd definitely consider the Nook at $150. Any more is just too hard to justify when I can read fine on my iPhone, so I've been holding out for a price drop. Good news I hope!
i really wouldnt mind a wi-fi only reader. i would mostly be using it at home/school anyway where wifi is always available.
Couldn't B&N not reinvent the wheel and just ship Nooks without the Sierra Wireless miniPCI-e card installed in it?
Good move on their part to continue to drive people to their stores to take advantage of the free/unlimited browsing on the nook. If it has some sort of decent web browser even better. Gets people in the stores to buy other non-book purchases (Starbucks, cards, media, etc).
100$ is a bit much to expect from removing the gsm parts, more like 50$, so it might just break the 200$ barrier.
@newone Agree, but doesn't Nook have the same subsidised-connection thing that Kindle does where they pay the phone company every time you download a book? So the saving isn't just in parts, but also in increased profit per book.
I really think this is the way to go, at least in offering the choice - 3G connections simply aren't necessary for a book reader. Maybe occasionally nice to buy a book when you're on the go, but enough occasionally that it's really not worth wasting the cost/components. Wi-fi however is a big improvement over 'you have to actually plug it into a computer and use some crappy software on the computer to download books'.
I, for one, don't really care all that much about having a cell connection.
It might be nice eventually for newspaper or something.. but what else is there that I can't just udpate through my computer and take it and go in the morning.
These things should be able to hold dozens of books at an absolute minimum.
I can surely see it for some people's usage.
But for me, I just don't anticipate 'needing' a new book in the middle of the day.
Expect it to be $199, not $159. At least that's what B&N said when they talked about WiFi-only Nook Lite in April.
@Raikus Oh yeah. Forgot to cite my sources: http://besttabletreview.com/barnes-noble-working-on-a-nook-2-and-nook-lite-ereader/
Throw in a decent processor that can handle it's web browser decently (not smoothly just enough to make it usable) I'd throw my wallet at it.
Less than $200 for an ebook reader with some Android goodness... I'm in.
I bought a Nook, and after creating a B&N account, they sent me a $50 store credit.
I'd buy one if it breaks the $200 mark. That GSM modem does me no good overseas.
Does anyone know if the nook supports Asian character sets as well? Or will I be stuck reading PDFs on it?
still no microSD slot?