Beware the Nooks

Yesterday, Barnes & Noble (B&N) announced its next generation tablets, the Nook HD 7″ and Nook HD+ 9″ devices.  Early reviews mention with excitement how sleek and elegant these new tablets look & feel, and how their specs stack up favorably against the Amazon HD 7″ & Apple iPAD 3.  One reviewer, Steven Kovach, from the Business Insider, went so far as to say in his article titled Amazon’s Kindle Fire Just Became a Dud –

“Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD is only a few weeks old, and now the retail giant’s biggest competitor has two new tablets coming out in about a month… And I think they might be better than what Amazon has to offer.”.

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You can view B&N’s own head to head tablet match-ups between their offerings and Amazon & Apple just below, as taken from their site:

We’re different — in the best possible way. Compare us to other devices and find the NOOK that’s right for you.

Compare NOOK
Compare NOOK to Kindle HD
Compare NOOK to Kindle Fire HD 8.9″
Compare NOOK to iPad 3

While it’s much too early to tell how well received the new Nooks will be by either tech analysts or the public, it is clear B&N is taking their best shot at seeking online sales as their in-store sales volume continues to decline.  I think B&N has presented 2 very good tablets which on paper meet or beat Amazon & Apple item by item and are even cheaper.

The new B&N tablets will be available at Walmart, Target, various office stores, and online sometime in October.  They will available in the UK sometime in November.

So, the question remains, will B&N be able to garner any new customers with their new, good-looking, well-built Nook HD 7″ & Nook HD+ 9″ tablets?  Or, will they be left with mostly existing customers doing upgrades?  In the competitive world of tablets today, customers are often loyal to whatever vendor they are used to, and movement across devices seems a bit tricky.

One can only hope B&N is able to grow and be a stable player in the tablet & online world, thus providing vendors more competition and customers more options.