14 DAY TRIAL // We may have already mentioned a certain deal that Barnes & Noble has decided to offer, but the company has now made the official announcement, one that reveals a second product change as well.
It is easy enough to summarize B&N's latest marketing maneuver as an attempt to face Amazon a bit more directly on the tablet and e-reader front.
After all, if the latter didn't have a more affordable tablet, B&N probably would not have bothered reducing the price at the cost of storage capacity.
Either way, this is precisely what happened: the Nook Tablet lost eight out of sixteen GB of storage space in order to shed off $50 / 37.88 Euro from its price tag.
We have known of this since yesterday, and we have even written about it, but it seems B&N made it official with a PR announcement.
"For any customer who likes to read digitally, watch movies or TV shows, browse the web, or help their kids read and learn through interactive books and apps, our new $199 NOOK Tablet with 8GB is the best product value on the market," said William Lynch, chief executive officer of Barnes & Noble.
"NOOK Tablet is the highest-rated wireless media tablet in the 7-inch class, ultra-portable at under a pound, offers our exclusive VividView™ screen technology, and since its introduction this holiday has received rave reviews from customers about all its great features. We're pleased to now offer customers the ability to experience NOOK Tablet's unmatched content experience for only $199."
What the company also did was cut the price of the Nook Color, the device that is an Android tablet in all but name (it is marketed as an e-reader). At $169 (127.80 Euro) instead of $199 (150.49 Euro), it is cheaper than the Kindle Touch without ads.
“NOOK Tablet, NOOK Color and NOOK Simple Touch represent the highest-quality portfolio of reading and entertainment products on the market at the best value,” Lynch says.