Barnes & Noble, Inc has invited media and analysts to a news conference for a “very special announcement” on Monday, Nov. 7 at 8:30pm.
The company is expected to unveil its response to Amazon.com’s Kindle Fire tablet to kick off the holiday shopping season, but has not confirmed or commented on what it is revealing.
Barnes & Noble currently provides the Nook in a black-and-white touch screen reader called The Simple Touch Reader, starting at $139, and the Nook Color reader, which has a web browser and supports apps and email, available for $249.
The tablet market has been dominated by Apple’s iPad, available starting at $499, and the recent Kindle Fire, available for $199. The Kindle Fire’s recent launch includes tablet updates like surfing the web, streaming moves and TV, and supporting thousands of apps on top of being an e-book reader.
According to Simba Information senior trade analyst Michael Norris, other possibilities for the upcoming reveal could be a price cut on the Nook Color to match the Kindle Fire’s price or more capabilities added to the Nook Color such as video streaming.
Barnes & Noble adds new content to its digital catalog, including special seasonal features and family favorites. For Halloween, customers can enjoy festive fall children’s favorites such as It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown with interactivity and animation; Phineas & Ferb: Haunted Hayride; Dora’s Perfect Pumpkin; Happy Halloween, Curious George and more.
In recent news, The Wall Street Journal has an agreement with Nielsen BookScan to publish best-seller lists that include both physical books and e-sales. It’s the first time that Nielsen has compiled e-books, with Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Apple and Google among those participating.
Rachel Ramsey is a TechZone360 editorial assistant, contributing news items and feature articles on a variety of communications and technology topics. Rachel has previously worked in PR and communications at The Wriglesworth Consultancy, an award-winning London PR firm. She has also contributed to the creative services department at CBS 3 and The CW Philly in Philadelphia. To read more of Rachel's articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Rich Steeves