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Barnes & Noble is reportedly planning a new Nook Color tablet as early as this month, based mostly on info from part suppliers in Asia. The organization is hunting to have up 3 million Nook Shade two gadgets created prior to the end of 2011, centered on business sources speaking to DigiTimes. Though the existing Barnes & Noble Nook Coloration is technically an e-reader, it’s also probably to be the most productive selling tablet exterior of Apple’s iPad, with numerous million estimated because it debuted in October of final 12 months.
DigiTimes is not known for one hundred % accuracy, but the publication does have effectively-placed contacts within the Asia-Pacific area in which a lot of of today’s buyers electronics and computing devices are made. And information of an up to date Nook Color helps make perception to me for a few reasons.
Success of the existing Nook Shade. This is a two-sided coin simply because on the one particular hand if a product is marketing properly, there is much less purpose to replace it with a new merchandise. On the other hand, technology cycles are transforming at any time more rapidly, so in order to “keep up” and keep aggressive, timing is critical to ongoing success. And part of the company’s timing may possibly have a lot to do with the predicted Amazon tablet that a lot of, like myself, assume to debut before the holiday getaway period. Beating Amazon’s first tablet with a 2nd generation unit could blunt the influence of Amazon’s entry to the tablet industry, even if it is a seriously personalized seven-inch Android slate for $ 250 with an Amazon Prime membership as I guessed a number of days ago.
Tablet competition. Several are pleased with the current Nook Coloration as a tablet, and for excellent cause. The $ 249 expense is far less than most tablets and it’s an straightforward process to unlock the regular Google Android tablet expertise on the gadget. Doing so gives the finest of the two worlds: A reliable e-reader and a total-highlighted Android slate. But a new generation of effective tablets are on the way quickly. The latest Nook Color will not contend towards them, but it might compete from a lot more capable older tablets that are probably to start off dropping in cost. And there is even new levels of competition in today’s market place, evidenced by the just declared Lenovo A1, which has more hardware features — cameras and quicker processor, for instance — costing only $ 199.
Reliance on digital media. Previously this week, Barnes & Noble reported economic outcomes for its fiscal very first quarter of 2012. Traditional retailer sales lowered 3 percent to $ one billion, but the company’s Nook business which includes hardware, digital subject material and add-ons jumped 140 percent to $ 277 million. The company also provided assistance by declaring its Nook enterprise is expected to double to $ 1.8 billion this fiscal year. Fundamentally, the Nook business is a big concentrate for the company’s foreseeable future and it wants to preserve a fresh item pipeline flowing.
So if there is a Nook Coloration 2 debuting quickly, there’s a question of what will it search like. Even though the business could go with a more substantial layout to rival a rumored 10-inch Amazon offering, I’m leaning a lot more in direction of the 7-inch screen measurement utilized in the present Nook Shade. Any more substantial and the gadget will become less of a reader and more of a tablet because that’s unwieldy for long intervals of reading. The only reason I could see Barnes & Noble go with a greater screen is since of publications: Final month, the business announced a lot more magazine titles alongside with enhanced interactivity that could gain from a larger screen.
Even if the screen dimensions on a Nook Colour two improves over the original product, even so, I’d think it would be a lot more of a jump to 8- or eight.9-inches, not 10.one-inches. That is, except if Barnes & Noble plans to supplement its digital e-book content with other media these kinds of as videos or tv reveals, though I’m doubtful of that.
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