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Barnes & Noble Nook HD, HD+ vs. Nook Tablet: what's changed?
When William Barnes and G. Clifford Noble set up their first bookstore in 1917, neither of them could have conceived of an e-reader or tablet, let alone trying to sell one of 'em. Their historical lack of foresight aside, the company outed a pair of second generation slates this morning, and it's our job to see what technical nips and tucks have been made from version one. If you love to start the day with a spec chart comparison, then why not grab a bowl of cereal and join us after the break?
Source: Barnes & Noble prepping Nook Tablet followup with 'incredible display' for fall release
This week may belong to Amazon and whatever information the mega-retailer decides to drop on our heads tomorrow at its press conference in Santa Monica, but Barnes & Noble's apparently won't be letting the Kindle maker hog the spotlight for too long. We've been tipped off from a reliable source that there is, in fact, a successor to the Nook Tablet heading our way this fall. The device is said to be "super light," while packing an "incredible display," rocking 243 ppi. Industrial design on the apparently forthcoming tablet will be handled by Barnes and Noble favorite, Robert Brunner of Ammunition, who's already got some Nook design under his belt. All of this is said to coincide with a brand new video store from the company, in an attempt, no doubt, to take advantage of the aforementioned "incredible display." That's about all we've got for the moment, but we're told more information will be forthcoming from more official channels soon.
Barnes and Noble sees quarterly sales surge, losses fall to $41 million
Barnes & Noble has had a quarter worth remembering, bringing in $1.5 billion and reducing its losses to $41 million -- down from $57 million last year. Retail business was up, thanks to the closure of Borders branches and blockbuster sales of Fifty Shades of Grey, while College sales increased quarterly losses by $2 million to $14 million. While online sales fell 7.6 percent and the Nook business remained flat, the company saw digital content purchases skyrocket by 46 percent -- and the company couldn't produce enough GlowLight devices to satisfy demand. Wondering about the company's tie-up with Microsoft? There's still no news beyond that it hopes the new partnership will be up and running by the fall.
Crackle's free movie streaming expands to the Nook Tablet, Android and iOS apps updated for TV playback
It may not have quite the catalog of Netflix (or the same HD quality), but Sony Pictures' Crackle streaming service does have one big thing going for it: it's completely free. It's also found its way onto plenty of different platforms (most recently Windows Phone), and that run has now continued with its expansion onto Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet (but not the Nook Color). What's more, while there's no release date confirmed just yet, Crackle says that the app is "coming soon" to the Kindle Fire as well. It's also revealed that the app has now seen 11 million downloads across all mobile platforms -- a figure that may now see a boost not only from the new Nook app, but from the just-updated Android and iOS apps, which each boast a redesigned interface and support for TV playback via AirPlay or HDMI.
IHS iSuppli: Apple iPad takes 69.6 percent of tablet brand market share in Q2, reader tablets take a bruising
An earlier portrait of the second quarter's tablet market share made it quite clear that the iPad was on a rebound, if it was ever in a slump to start with. All those numbers focused on platforms and not brands, however -- we didn't know how the individual makers were doing. If IHS iSuppli's figures are on the ball, there's even more of a discrepancy if you break down the period's results by manufacturer. The iPad staked out 69.6 percent of tablet shipments in the spring. That wasn't just an 11-point jump over a year earlier; it was a level of share Apple hasn't had since the Motorola Xoom was just cutting its teeth early in 2011. As for the rest? Transformer Pads kept ASUS growing, but it's not a pretty sight if you're making an Android reader tablet; both Amazon and Barnes & Noble shed roughly a point and a half each, which is no small amount relative to their size. Samsung also lost share by this after its deliveries of Galaxy Tabs mostly stayed flat. We'd add that there's some wiggle room as to real performance knowing that units shipped and sold aren't always one and the same. Most of these companies are leaving clues regarding upcoming tablet refreshes that might level the playing field, some not so subtle, but it's currently Apple's game to win.
Barnes & Noble cuts prices across its Nook lineup, vies for your budget tablet affection
In what could be seen as a response to the positive reaction that Google's $200 Nexus 7 has garnered, Barnes & Noble has just cut down the prices on all three of its Android-based, seven-inch Nook Tablets. The 16 and 8GB models have been respectively reduced to $199 (from $249) and $179 (from $199), while the Nook Color is priced 20 bones cheaper than before at $149. Not sure whether those prices too good to be true, even up against the likes of the Kindle Fire? Feel free to peruse our reviews of B&N's reading-focused slates before potentially taking the plunge at its webstore.
Skobbler brings maps to Nook Tablet, Color with ForeverMap 2
We've seen attempts to bring mapping functionality to Barnes & Noble's Nook Color in the past, but Skobbler's going full out with the arrival of ForeverMap 2 for that device and its more clearly defined tablet successor. The app utilizes WiFi positioning, offers route guidance and features both global and local maps. The standard version is free and a pro version can be picked up for $5, offering up added functionality like unlimited offline map downloads. Skobbler also used today's launch to announce that it's working on broader implementation by making it available to Nook app developers.
Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 app lands on Nook Tablet, turns eBook fans' gazes skyward
eBook enthusiasts love some good quadricopter action as much as anyone, and now those with a Nook Tablet can get in on flying the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 that launched this May. Today Barnes & Noble announced that the AR.FreeFlight 2.0 app is available for a free download in its Nook Store. The program lets owners of the RC copter control the device over WiFi. Users can capture photos and videos with the Drone 2.0's embedded cameras and share them via the app or YouTube and Picassa, and double-tapping the button of the right side of the Nook makes the Drone 2.0 perform flips. The $299 AR.Drone 2.0 is available through B&N's site -- get more info in the PR below.
DC Comics arrive on Nook Tablet, Barnes & Noble lets you watch, zoom the Watchmen
When we initially did our Nook Tablet / Kindle Fire battle royal, the choice between the devices for comics fans largely came down to the preference between the Marvel and DC universes. The lines, however, are blurring. Thanks to today's announcement, Justice League fans should find as much to love in the Nook Tablet and Color as Avengers devotees. DC has brought more than 100 graphic novels to the aforementioned devices and Android tablets running the Nook app. Barnes & Noble also used the opportunity to announce the new Zoom View feature, which lets readers focus on individual panels -- functionality that sounds fairly similar to what Comixology offers in its own popular app. For more information about Crisis on Infinite Nooks, check out the press release after the break.
Barnes & Noble's Q4 and FY 2012: revenue up, losses up, hopes Microsoft hurries up
Barnes & Noble has released its financial results for both the final quarter and full financial year of 2012. It's a picture of a company that's holding steady in the face of continued onslaught from its rivals, albeit with some hope on the horizon. In preparation for its as-yet-unnamed venture with Microsoft, the company has begun the process of spinning off its Nook and College businesses -- while sales from stores and BN.com now come under the umbrella term of "retail." On that front, it sold $1.1 billion worth of books in the quarter and $4.85 billion for the year -- down from $4.92 billion in 2011. Nook-wise, the company had turnover of $933 million, with device sales increasing 1 percent for the quarter and 45 percent of the year -- but had to eat a loss on taking back unsold Simple Touch readers. Content sales on its various devices increased 65 percent in the quarter and 119 percent in the year -- clearly showing where the market is headed.
Microsoft's rumored tablet may be a Barnes & Noble collaboration with Xbox Live video streaming
Rumors swirling around Microsoft's mystery event on Monday have repeatedly centered on a tablet, but if TechCrunch sources are right, Microsoft may only play a partial role in the project. The unveiling, according to the claims, may instead be a tablet, e-reader or a crossover of the two built in teamwork with Barnes & Noble -- a company that just recently established a vague partnership with Microsoft after many months of legal wrangling over Android and the Nook. The slate may not include Windows 8 RT at all, despite earlier assertions, but that's not to say that Microsoft wouldn't be breaking ground in other areas. One of the reported insiders believes it could be the first device without the Microsoft badge to get Xbox Live video streaming, which might explain Redmond's eagerness to turn Xbox into a general media brand at its E3 keynote. It's still very much unknown if there will be any hardware at all, although decisions to host the event in the media capital of Los Angeles and detach the invitation from any existing Microsoft division provide at least indirect support for the notion. Whatever happens, we'll be there tomorrow to give you the lowdown.
How would you change the Nook Tablet?
It's hard not to make a series of reductive comparisons between the Nook Tablet and the Kindle Fire. After all, it's the conflict between Barnes & Noble and Amazon that frames these two 7-inch tablet / e-reader hybrids. When released, this one was $50 more expensive, but is technically more impressive: you get more expandability, it's faster and the screen is better for images and video. Statistically, at least three out of every ten e-book readers purchased were Nooks, so plenty of you out there use 'em. What we want to know, is what are they like to use on a daily basis? What little gripes did we not pick up during our week-long review and, if William Lynch was reading what you had to say, what would you change?
PSA: Nook Tablet can be repartitioned in-store, Android app adds comic support
Did you take umbrage with Barnes & Noble's efforts to hoard all your Nook Tablet storage for its own content? Well, the book seller has made good on its promise to reassign a portion of your 16GB hard drive, opening up 8GB for personal content and leaving 5.5GB for Nook Shop content. As we said before, you'll need to physically take your Nook Tablet to the bricks and mortar outlets to get the storage tweak. Readers that decided to go for other Android-laced tablets have also been gifted with a Nook app update, adding support for comics and related graphical literature -- just make sure that the slab is running Android 2.2 or higher.
Refresh Roundup: week of March 5th, 2012
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!
Dark Horse Comics graphic novels coming to Nook Tablet and Nook Color
Dark Horse Comics has penciled a contract with Barnes & Noble (it'll be sent off to be inked and colored next week*) to get the former's content onto the latter's Tablet and Color e-readers. Available in the Nook Comic store, you'll be able to pick up a mix of the publisher's licensed titles like Mass Effect and Star Wars as well as home-grown fare like Hellboy and Sin City. The range will gently expand month-on-month and is available from today, with titles priced around $10 depending on what you want. * This is a comic book joke.
Barnes & Noble offers to repartition Nook Tablet storage, concedes you may need more than 1GB
Are you one of the many infuriated with Barnes & Noble over how it partitioned the storage on the Nook Tablet -- leaving you just 1GB for you own files? Well, it looks like the company has learned from its mistakes. While only about 5GB is free to load with apps and media on the new 8GB model, just 1GB of that is reserved for Nook Store content. That's in stark contrast to the 16GB version which set aside a full 12GB for Nook Store downloads. Thankfully, B&N is offering to retroactively fix the boondoggle. If you visit a brick and mortar shop starting March 12th, a support rep will gladly help you repartition the internal storage, freeing up more than just one of the 13 available gigabytes for personal use. Having to bring it to the store is a bit of pain, but we suppose it's better that getting stuck with 12GB of Angry Birds and e-books.
Twitter's Android and iOS app get updates; out on Kindle Fire now, Nook soon
The official Twitter app has just received an update on iOS and Android, bringing new features to both platforms, plus an "optimized" Ice Cream Sandwich experience as seen above. The app is also currently available on Amazon's Appstore for the Kindle Fire now, and the company says it will pop up in the Barnes & Noble Nook Store February 23rd. For both Android and IOS the app has brought back / added a swipe gesture to reply to, reweet or favorite something without leaving your timeline, plus a notification on the Find Friends feature that it will be uploading their address book to Twitter's server -- a welcome change after the Path fiasco. The iOS-specific changes are the return of copy and paste, more options to share or save links in tweets, a mark all read for DMs and configurable font sizes. While it is optimized for ICS, on our CyanogenMod 9 tablet, the layout still looked reminiscent of the Gingerbread version instead of the iPad's richer layout. Hit the source links below to give it a look yourself and let us know if it's beating out your favorite mobile app yet.
Barnes & Noble 2012 Q3 Report: loss-making Nook generates sales, tears
It's that time of the year when Barnes & Noble's accountants reveal the figures for the quarter to determine if the age of print is over. Turns out there's some good news for bookseller. Overall sales for the chain increased five percent: the company took $2.4 billion through the cash registers. That was split $1.49 billion (up two percent) in high-street retail, online sales took $420 million (up 32 percent year-on-year) and the Nook in all its forms and glories took $542 million (up 38 percent). The only grey cloud was that sales in college-only stores dropped three percent, thanks in part to renting textbooks to impecunious freshmen. They're probably all using that money on buying digital content on their Nooks: digital content purchases increased by 85 percent in a single quarter. Like rival Amazon, it wouldn't release how many devices were sold, except to say it likely maintained its market share. However, all of that (pretty) good news is a bit of a smokescreen: B&N won't reveal its profits after interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization has been deducted. Pre ITDA income dropped 12 percent from the same period in 2011 and the company has revealed that the BN.com and Nook businesses made a combined loss of $94 million, with annual income looking to be in negative figures. Update: A tidbit from the conference call, the company believes the device currently holds around 30 percent of the overall e-reader market: using numbers direct from the publishers themselves.
Barnes & Noble unveils 8GB Nook Tablet for $199, slashes Color to $169
Looks like those murmurings of a lower-priced Nook Tablet with only 8GB of storage were right on, though, the reduced RAM was conveniently left out. In most ways it seems the updated Android slate is identical to its 16GB forebearer, except that by slashing the storage and memory in half Barnes & Noble has managed to meet the Kindle Fire on price -- $199. And, unlike the Fire, the Nook sports a microSD slot, so the loss of 8GB of storage isn't necessarily a huge deal. In addition to the new Nook Tablet, the Color is getting a rather significant price cut to just $169, making it cheaper than the Kindle Touch without ads. Looks like the brick-and-mortar stalwart has finally thrown down the pricing gauntlet. The lower-priced tab is available today both online and in Barnes & Noble stores, with other retailers to join the parade soon. Check out the complete PR after the break.
Nook Tablet coming to Walmart with less storage and a lower price tag?
One of the things that has kept the Nook Tablet from hitting Kindle Fire-like heights has been the price tag. Sure, $250 is super cheap for a rather well specced slate, but when the Amazon's entry is a full $50 cheaper it spells trouble. Now it looks like B&N is getting ready to tangle a little more directly with the online retail giant by cutting the Nook Tablet's storage in half to 8GB and slashing the price. Details are pretty slim at the moment, but it does appear that Walmart will be selling the device starting February 22nd, this Wednesday. Sadly, we'll have to wait till then to find out just how much cheaper it'll be and, whether or not the Color will be receiving a corresponding price drop.
