Barnes & Noble has informed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that the giant book retailer will release information concerning the launch of a new e-reader on May 24. No further details were provided in the financial filing, and the company didn't immediately respond to a request for further details. Some industry observers think Barnes & Noble intends to introduce an e-reader based on Honeycomb -- Google's Android 3.0 platform for web tablets. That speculation is based on the retailer's recent rollout of a software
upgrade for the nook color that gives the e-reader tablet-like e-mail access as well as Adobe Flash playback capabilities. However, Forrester Research Vice President James McQuivey is anticipating something that would be considerably less flashy but would enable Barnes & Noble to keep pace with the latest Kindle price cuts that rival Amazon.com announced last month. "This will probably be a slimmer version of the E Ink nook, with some improvements in software, page turn times, and user experience -- all at a cheaper price than before, closer to $129," McQuivey said Thursday in an e-mail.
Riding Apple's Coattails
According to IDC, e-reader shipments rose 325 percent year over year to 12.8 million units in 2010, in part by hitching a ride on intense interest in Apple's iPad. The strong growth reflects a more competitive environment
, "as well as widening interest in the category -- including a boost from the media-tablet press and much lower pricing," said IDC Vice President Loren Loverde. This helps explain the strategy behind Barnes & Noble's nook color upgrade, which in addition to an integrated e-mail client and Flash 10.1 support also includes an Android app store as well as an improved user experience through a myriad of tweaks.
"These upgrades make the nook color look more and more like a tablet, with a very attractive $249 price point, to boot," McQuivey explained in a blog late last month. On the other hand, the tablet market is "gradually moving into higher-power
features, not lower-power experiences," he added. The numerous tablet competitors aiming to grab market share
from the iPad are pitching products at higher prices and with more powerful features, McQuivey noted. By contrast, the nook color "remains a smaller, less-powerful tablet than the iPad" that is really "about setting a new bar for e-readers," he wrote. (continued...)
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