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I thought everyone would be interested. ZDNet is usually pretty Apple happy but this article praises the NC.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/the-first-great-android-tablet-nook-color/8570#comments
richdaley said:
I thought everyone would be interested. ZDNet is usually pretty Apple happy but this article praises the NC.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/the-first-great-android-tablet-nook-color/8570#comments
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Praises the Nook Color as a full blown tablet (once the App Store opens)... I wonder what the execs at Barnes and Noble are thinking right now? My guess: "Should we try to ride this tiger? Will it eat us in the end or will it help us devour the competition?" I suspect there's a lot of soul searching going on in Barnes and Nobleland.
i think BN knows what they have - i am sure they built the nook as such knowing they will make use of its full capabilities once they have content to offer - to me the nook color offers a conduit for selling not only books but rich media - audio, video, graphic novels etc - BN is aware Amazon is working on their own tablet and that amazon has a robust portfolio of content - so this is a pre-emptive move on their part before amazon launches their tablet - after all, BN also set the bar for pricing the piece ( a low cost high quality tablet) - Amazon will have to also compete on price not only on content
dsf3g said:
Praises the Nook Color as a full blown tablet (once the App Store opens)... I wonder what the execs at Barnes and Noble are thinking right now? My guess: "Should we try to ride this tiger? Will it eat us in the end or will it help us devour the competition?" I suspect there's a lot of soul searching going on in Barnes and Nobleland.
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A problem arises (and likely this is the reason for the apprehension by BN in releasing an "app store") if the NC becomes too successful as a tablet because it undermines its ability to be a successful loss-leader. Considering the CPU, screen, memory (flash and ram), battery and wireless controller I'd estimate the COGS comes in around $170 per unit, add in fabrication costs for the mainboard and housing and distribution/quality control and the NC is a low-margin or possibly negative-margin product. BN is counting on accessory and book sales to make a real profit on these devices, which is why they are probably not going to be too mod-friendly going forward.
This is really an inaccurate story. Stock NC already has email and a web browser on it. All they're really adding is the BN app store. There's no word yet on how many games/apps will be available. The update will bring Flash and the BN app store. It's not going to unlock it as a tablet the way rooting currently does.
mthe0ry said:
A problem arises (and likely this is the reason for the apprehension by BN in releasing an "app store") if the NC becomes too successful as a tablet because it undermines its ability to be a successful loss-leader. Considering the CPU, screen, memory (flash and ram), battery and wireless controller I'd estimate the COGS comes in around $170 per unit, add in fabrication costs for the mainboard and housing and distribution/quality control and the NC is a low-margin or possibly negative-margin product. BN is counting on accessory and book sales to make a real profit on these devices, which is why they are probably not going to be too mod-friendly going forward.
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If, what you are saying is true, they would still get accessory sales and the amount of book sales would not change. Those who buy eBooks would still buy them and those that don't...won't. I also highly doubt they sell these units at a loss. Small profit margin sure, loss...no. So any sales will still be good sales.
mthe0ry said:
A problem arises (and likely this is the reason for the apprehension by BN in releasing an "app store") if the NC becomes too successful as a tablet because it undermines its ability to be a successful loss-leader. Considering the CPU, screen, memory (flash and ram), battery and wireless controller I'd estimate the COGS comes in around $170 per unit, add in fabrication costs for the mainboard and housing and distribution/quality control and the NC is a low-margin or possibly negative-margin product. BN is counting on accessory and book sales to make a real profit on these devices, which is why they are probably not going to be too mod-friendly going forward.
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This is only a problem with rooted nook tablets, though. A stock Nook tablet that has to go through the Nook App store still produces sales revenue for Barnes and Noble.
I've heard they do sell them at a loss. They sell them at a loss with the idea that people who have them will buy ebooks which are basically pure profit. There is no cost in warehousing ebooks, no cost in printing them, minimal cost in changing them from print to digital and minimal cost in delivery. It's been rumored for a while that Amazon would be giving a free Kindle to all their Prime customers just because people who own e-readers buy more books than those who don't and they are better off financially selling their e-readers at a loss and making up for it with the nearly pure profit they get off ebooks.
dsf3g said:
This is only a problem with rooted nook tablets, though. A stock Nook tablet that has to go through the Nook App store still produces sales revenue for Barnes and Noble.
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That is what I am thinking too. If they make them attractive enough as a tablet for Joe Public, he will not be as tempted to root them which means they are running the B&N store exclusively. I think it is a good strategy especially since in my opinion the stock UI is very nice for what it does and with the addition of flash and other features, they have a winner. We nerds don't count because we are going to root it (but some of us are loyal to B&N anyway).
I don't know much about the publishing business but maybe there is also some advantage to just selling a bajillion of these things even at cost. Barnes and Noble cannot get by if they are just going to copy Kindle. They needed to make a bold move, which they did and their stock has been rebounding.
The overhead in ebooks is server space, bandwidth and the big one being copyright licensing to the publishers. It is definitely not pure profit.
cabbieBot said:
The overhead in ebooks is server space, bandwidth and the big one being copyright licensing to the publishers. It is definitely not pure profit.
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And all of that is next to nothing compared to the cost of print media. You're going to have licensing either way so that's a wash. Server space and bandwidth is negligible. An Ebook is nothing more than a few hundred kb. I would bet that a RAID array with just a TB or two of space could store every ebook on Amazon.
Edit: I'm at home on call so I'm bored so I did the math. Amazon claims to have 1.8 million pre-1923 books that are out of copyright plus 850,000 other books. Now, I rounded up allowing for growth and settled on a number of 3 million books. Even at 1 mb a book (which is really pretty big for an ebook), you would need ~2.9 TB of storage space for the entire Amazon library. Amazon can easily afford a series of NAS' holding that much space. Heck, you or I could buy a NAS of that size for a few hundred bucks.
Let's keep in mind a truism of production that the more you buy (make) the less you pay for what it's made of. Now unless the buyers at B&N are absolute morons (and I do doubt they are) the more NC's they order constructed the price to B&N should well drop! Thus increasing the margin of profit while keeping the current price point.
skeeterpro said:
Let's keep in mind a truism of production that the more you buy (make) the less you pay for what it's made of. Now unless the buyers at B&N are absolute morons (and I do doubt they are) the more NC's they order constructed the price to B&N should well drop! Thus increasing the margin of profit while keeping the current price point.
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I have a rooted NC would would love to see Froyo and Flash on the NC supported by BN. However, the arguments are basically the guys in the business "suits" vs the "geeks". Even if the NC are sold at a small profits, the "suits" on Wall St would not like that. The suits want profit margin.
My guess is that the mid-April update will be less than what this forum expects. I do hope I am wrong.
A. Nonymous said:
This is really an inaccurate story. Stock NC already has email and a web browser on it. All they're really adding is the BN app store. There's no word yet on how many games/apps will be available. The update will bring Flash and the BN app store. It's not going to unlock it as a tablet the way rooting currently does.
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Can someone point to a BN press release indicating Flash? Even the HSN website (which I don't trust) doesn't mention Flash. I am trying to find supporting evidence of Flash.
http://electronics.hsn.com/nook-col...ablet-with-wi-fi-and-ebooks_p-6392436_xp.aspx
I was told by a sales rep that there would be an update with flash support this year. Of course we all know a sales rep will say anything to make a sale. Personally I ignored about everything be said as I walked in knowing I was putting froyo on it.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
Interesting article on the success of the NC:
http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/03/28/barnes.and.noble.said.shipped.3m.nook.colors/
Not sure if the #s they're stating fall into the "you can make any statistic true with the proper set of qualifications" category, but impressive nonetheless. This little half-price tablet is definitely getting some nice press of late!
yay nook color! the best ipad competitor!
(in sales)
The nook is a great tablet once nookie or CM7 is installed.
I'm wondering how many of those sales are unmodified nooks?
=X=
=X= said:
I'm wondering how many of those sales are unmodified nooks? =X=
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Perhaps the xda moderators can help. If you assume every viewer of the youtube video on rooting the NC (~100K) and every unique xda viewer of the BN Android Forum has rooted one, that would be the number of rooted nooks.
Assuming 500K unique views of the forum and the 100K from youtube, that's 600,000 units that have been rooted. So it's about 20%.
Can someone provide the number of XDA viewers?
Rooted stock is pretty good. For flash i just remote in to my htpc
Sent from my LogicPD Zoom2 using XDA App
fpga_guy said:
Perhaps the xda moderators can help. If you assume every viewer of the youtube video on rooting the NC (~100K) and every unique xda viewer of the BN Android Forum has rooted one, that would be the number of rooted nooks.
Assuming 500K unique views of the forum and the 100K from youtube, that's 600,000 units that have been rooted. So it's about 20%.
Can someone provide the number of XDA viewers?
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Hm so your estimating about 20% are rooted/mod.
If those numbers are anywhere near the ball park that is a pretty impressive number.
=X=
I interpreted that article as the nook accounts for half of the non-ipad tablets, not half of the tablets.
=X= said:
The nook is a great tablet once nookie or CM7 is installed.
I'm wondering how many of those sales are unmodified nooks?
=X=
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I moved back to stock just to enjoy endless battery life. CM7 is cool, but still needs some polish. CM guys rule anyway
Apple has probably moved 20-30 million iPads since the device was unveiled. Still, it is undeniably impressive that Barnes and Noble has sold half of the non-apple tablets in the U.S.
Just goes to show how much demand there is for a cheap, decent, 7" competitor to the iPad.
If B&N plays their cards right they can definitely leverage this to their advantage. The Nook Color could well be the one decision that saves teh company.
If B&N opens a robust store in April and loosens up on their earlier stated policy that the store will feature apps that "enhance the reading experience" then I predict the Nook Color will be a huge money maker for B&N (and they'll seriously cut down on ordinary users "rooting" their Nooks if they provide a decent in-house ecosystem for the device).
Wow. Impressive stuff. I've read several articles recently in mainstream publications (WSJ, NY Times I think) about the NC, so I'm sure that doesn't hurt.
Yeah the word is getting out. I have met two nurses I work with that own NCs and they saw my rooted stock and begged me to set theirs up like that. I pointed them here [XDA] of course but then they'll show all their friends/family and so on. Hopefully the decision makers at B&N realize what they have and don't mess it up with price increases or restrictions.
timmyjoe42 said:
I interpreted that article as the nook accounts for half of the non-ipad tablets, not half of the tablets.
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Thats is what it says the OP got it confused.
Meaning that All non apple tablets combine for 6 million sales and nook has 3 million.
The best I can tell from the internets is that Apple was somewhere at 15 million in 2010 and could sell 5-9 million ipads this quarter.
So yea nook has a very rough estimate of about 10% of the tablet market come the end of q1 2011.
Now if all 3 million of us could show our support and buy a few books, barnes and nobles should be okay.
dsf3g said:
If B&N opens a robust store in April and loosens up on their earlier stated policy that the store will feature apps that "enhance the reading experience" then I predict the Nook Color will be a huge money maker for B&N (and they'll seriously cut down on ordinary users "rooting" their Nooks if they provide a decent in-house ecosystem for the device).
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All they have to do is allow sideloaded apk's and get ride of the cellphone drain issues and I would probably not care about rooting it.
The 3 million number means nothing. We all know that B&N sells Nooks at near cost or even small loss. Their strategy was and still is to drive ebook sales and not every sold Nook translates into even single purchased book. So congratulate you can B&N all you want, but unless they will translate the market penetration into real profits based on the sold books, this would be known as Pyrrhic victory.
Masterface7 said:
Thats is what it says the OP got it confused.
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Actually that's what meant when I said, "you can make any statistic true with the proper set of qualifications". The thread title was taken directly from the article (that's why I added quote marks around it). I wasn't insinuating that the NC had sold 1:1 against the iPad in the US, just that they were stating some impressive numbers for it and that it's getting some great overall press across the board.
netscorer said:
The 3 million number means nothing. We all know that B&N sells Nooks at near cost or even small loss. Their strategy was and still is to drive ebook sales and not every sold Nook translates into even single purchased book. So congratulate you can B&N all you want, but unless they will translate the market penetration into real profits based on the sold books, this would be known as Pyrrhic victory.
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This is a really odd declaration.
Let's say that B&N sells their product at a loss. That still means that they have 3 million devices out there that are driving their brand name. They have an installed base of customers that they can drive applications towards (with their future app store), and they have the ebook store, and then they have all the accessories (which is where the real markup is anyways!).
So why the negativity? Selling three million units is a milestone no matter how you look at it.
Apple has probably moved 20-30 million iPads since the device was unveiled. Still, it is undeniably impressive that Barnes and Noble has sold half of the non-apple tablets in the U.S.
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I think the article did mean 50% of iPad sales. Apple sold about 15 millions of iPads in total worldwide from its launch up to March when the iPad 2 was launched. It sold about 7.5 million in FALL worldwide.
So, if B&N sold 3 millions of Nook Color in fall in US alone, that would be a great success for a tablet that wasn't even marketed as a tablet.
So why the negativity? Selling three million units is a milestone no matter how you look at it.
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On paper, frankly, that's quite a bit of financial loss if a lot of those buyers are only interested in using their Nook Color as a tablet. But if there are at least 30% of them being used as a dedicated reader, it should still be considered a success because B&N is on the way to become the next Border's before the Nook Color came out. Now, they are back in the game. Whether it will beat the Kindle in the long run remains to be seen, but at least it now has a bigger user base to compete.
On top of that, you are right that even if many Nook Color users are using it as a tablet, it's still a form of marketing. In fact, it's probably cheaper than other forms of marketing because:
1) The Nook Color users still have to pay B&N $249. Their loss won't be too significant
2) Everytime the users look at their Nook Color, it reminds them of B&N. Consider the average lifespan of the device is 1 year, that's 365 days of marketing for a small price to pay
So, if B&N really did sell 3 millions of Nook Color, it would be hard not to call it a success.
and that for tablets the nook color is in second place in sales they get there name out there more with "success story" and "the cheap tab you don't know of", and "the e-reader that can" articles. its win iced in win sauce with a side of kickass
NewZJ said:
its win iced in win sauce with a side of kickass
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I lol'ed
NewZJ said:
and that for tablets the nook color is in second place in sales they get there name out there more with "success story" and "the cheap tab you don't know of", and "the e-reader that can" articles. its win iced in win sauce with a side of kickass
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Fuk yeah. I use it as just an ereader, hacked my phones to bits. All the people at work who read are interested in it and now they want one. Kinda cool at the coffee shops I'm seeing more nooks and less glowing apples. I want this thing to succeed cause I like b&n and don't want them to fall like borders did. They are really pushing the update next month in the sales pitch right now. I hope it is a good one.
Just curious to see how many people would "trade-up" to the newer model *if* (very small chance I know) B&N announces tomorrow that they're releasing a faster and more full featured tablet/reader.
I'm of two minds about it, if it ends up being a new NC (which I doubt myself) that is better than the current NC, it'll probably cost $50-100 more, in which case why not just get one of the dedicated tablets out on the market? (Or wait for Amazon's quad core Hollywood tablet..)
What do you think?
I would wait for Hollywood, hell even Coyote. I don't really have money to just throw around myself, so even if they did release a newer Nook Color, I doubt it would be a big enough difference in performance or features to make me go buy it tomorrow.
In fact, with the possibility of Hollywood being only $450 at launch and from amazon (who you know is going to go out of their way to make sure they have plenty in stock) I may not even trade up to the Iconia or Transformer this fall like I had wanted to.
Which kind of sucks since the wife wants a Nook color now. (Was going to give her mine...)
Supposedly (PCMag article) Amazon "might" be pricing the 7-inch Coyote tablet a $349 and the 9.7-inch Hollywood tablet at $449 (assuming lowest storage price). If Amazon throws in free 3G for apps downloads I'm sold (doubt it though since their cloud computing mp3/streaming video would end up costing them a pretty penny with free 3G).
angomy said:
Supposedly (PCMag article) Amazon "might" be pricing the 7-inch Coyote tablet a $349 and the 9.7-inch Hollywood tablet at $449 (assuming lowest storage price). If Amazon throws in free 3G for apps downloads I'm sold (doubt it though since their cloud computing mp3/streaming video would end up costing them a pretty penny with free 3G).
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You wouldn't jump on a tegra 4 tablet for $449 unless it has free 3g?
Gin1212 said:
You wouldn't jump on a tegra 4 tablet for $449 unless it has free 3g?
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I'm trying not to spend *too* much money this year but....
The niece and nephew have been clamoring to inherit the Nook anyway, this year's a good time as any.
The new Nook!
Not a tablet - but a touch based e-reader:
http://news.cnet.com/tipster-new-nook-is-the-simple-touch-reader/8301-17938_105-20065525-1.html
madguy2006 said:
Not a tablet - but a touch based e-reader:
http://news.cnet.com/tipster-new-nook-is-the-simple-touch-reader/8301-17938_105-20065525-1.html
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its a cheap tablet, only cost 169$, so cheap that it must have cut down many hardware inside it.
Very nice, I'm very pro supporting BN so if their new reader has decent battery life, I'll probably buy it over the kindle in the near future.
Engadget just posted that B&N are now selling the old Nooks for $99 on eBay.
The Mad Mule said:
Engadget just posted that B&N are now selling the old Nooks for $99 on eBay.
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Just saw this as well.
Still rocking the Incredible with the XDA Premium App.
And the new Nook is a $139 touch enabled eReader - so...no Color as many of us predicted.
Gin1212 said:
Very nice, I'm very pro supporting BN so if their new reader has decent battery life, I'll probably buy it over the kindle in the near future.
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The engadget article states 2 months on a charge.
here is the article about the new nook:
***.engadget.com/2011/05/24/barnes-and-noble-announces-new-nook/
Doesn't sound like it has a lot to recommend it compared to nc, but we can still spend a few days speculating if it will boot from SD card... perhaps there are some applications where a "paperback" android device would be useful, especially if the disaffected sell them lightly used in the $100 range.
Press release says nook color now $169 list. Time for a second one to play with!
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20065678-264.html
EDIT: Went to the blog of the news conference and the reporter was wrong. NC is not lowered in list price! It is the 3g version of the old original nook that is $169. Bummer.
Sent from my SCH-I800 using Tapatalk
leapinlar said:
Press release says nook color now $169 list. Time for a second one to play with!
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20065678-264.html
Sent from my SCH-I800 using Tapatalk
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Correction, the original nook 3g is now 169. nook color is unchanged.
Touch screen e-ink? 80% less flashing (supposedly)? sd card? I'm sold. I wonder how long it takes to get it hacked and someone throw as a browser on there. e-ink touchscreen browser, even if just black and white, aounds very intriguing to me. Especially if it's better than the kindle's experimental browser.
this also assumes bn didn't take the hint from the first nc and locks the thing down like a bunker. Not to say there are some great devs out there but it would severley limit progress. This comming from a droid 2. Locked bootloaders =
I'd stay where i'm at right now. Working on saving money for a true tablet, but i like my NC as it is with HC now.
Why trade up? The Nook Color does everything I need it to do... IN COLOR. Running CM7 or phiremod is the icing on the cake...
Overstock has the refurb nook color with 1 year man. warranty for $179 today.
http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/Nook-Color-by-Barnes-Noble-Certified-Pre-Owned/5924200/product.html
Great deal! See this post for an extra $10 off via Buy.com: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1220388
all these deals make me feel like something new is coming
Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk
koopakid08 said:
all these deals make me feel like something new is coming
Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk
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I think this is a run to get as many out as possible before Amazon releases a tablet.
patruns said:
I think this is a run to get as many out as possible before Amazon releases a tablet.
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thats my vote.
Are you guys wrongly comparing Brand-new NC vs. Refurbished NC?
Amazon tablet has nothing to do with those price-dropping NOOKC.
If the brand-new NC is dropping price then it's legitimate to say because of the impact of the Amazon tablet, this is not, this is refurbished, people.
votinh said:
Are you guys wrongly comparing Brand-new NC vs. Refurbished NC?
Amazon tablet has nothing to do with those price-dropping NOOKC.
If the brand-new NC is dropping price then it's legitimate to say because of the impact of the Amazon tablet, this is not, this is refurbished, people.
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I have 2 that do not look at all to be anything but new. I suspect that B&N is flooding the market and you may get new or refurb. Have you ever seen any tech gizmo that was this popular and had this many refurbs floating around? Unless you have some solid inside info from either Amazon or B&N I take your advice as simply an opinion.
votinh said:
Are you guys wrongly comparing Brand-new NC vs. Refurbished NC?
Amazon tablet has nothing to do with those price-dropping NOOKC.
If the brand-new NC is dropping price then it's legitimate to say because of the impact of the Amazon tablet, this is not, this is refurbished, people.
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the nook color price hasnt dropped, its been $249 for a while now
the nook color refurbished price has dropped, from $225 to $169.
the reason for the glut of refurbs? no idea/opinion.
is B&N reselling refurbished NC's for cheaper and cheaper, an attempt at saturating the channel before amazon releases their tablet(s)? perhaps.
i got mine about a month or two ago for $189 from b&n through ebay; so could read books, comics, study, and do light surfing (reading the tech news). i only got it b/c i could root it, which i did via microSD card and run android/CM7. my wife has been "borrowing" it during the day to read books while at work (she is a nanny). she also will be "borrowing" it to read books when she stays home with our first child, in the fall. she finds being able to read a book with one hand and turn the page with a finger MUCH easier, especially when holding a baby. she loves the quality of the screen and is getting used to the touch screen interface.
will any other tablet de-throne the NC for the sub $200-250 tablet market segment - only time will tell. competition is a good thing for all consumers. i look forward to new tablets, but i will probably stick with my $250 investment (NC, 16gb microSD card, silicon cover, screen protector, neoprene bag) for at least 1-2 years unless anyone comes out with a tablet that is as fast as my workstation/desktop for surfing for approx. $250, which will probably happen in 1-2 years at the rate we are currently moving. that, or the battery fails to maintain a charge after doing 50% drain every day. The question is, will tablets hit the metaphorical wall, as we did with computers and the current 3-4ghz processor "cap"? only time will tell.
Rumors spread around that B&N will soon release a $349 tablet (or just e-reader?). Name could still be NOOKcolor or might be something else.
Anyone has insider detail/info about hardware spec.?
I've seen pretty much the same rumor. At this point, I can't see B&N putting a newer Nook out there that will cost more than the one Amazon is about to release.
I think we'll see B&N drop the price on the NC once the Amazon Tab comes out. NC will sell new for less than $200. Refurbs for less than $150. I also bet they will announce a new larger format tablet and then a 7" refresh before xmas.
It'll be more than an ereader if it costs 350.
Probably an Android tab with a bunch if b&n branding and offers.
Sent from my NookColor using xda premium