Article
Barnes & Noble's Tablet is Ready to Compete
Author(s):
Barnes & Noble has unveiled its newest device and direct competitor with Amazon's table. The price tag for the Nook Tablet is higher because B&N believes its device has superior insides.
After Amazon revealed its new tablet, Kindle Fire, at the end of September, it was clear that it was only a matter of time before Barnes & Noble announced its own tablet.
The two companies have been all out competing with each other (and to a lesser extent Apple) and it was never more apparent than when B&N Chief Executive Officer William Lynch took a shot at the Kindle Fire, calling it “deficient” while unveiling the Nook Tablet (the comment can be seen on CNNMoney.com here at 1:30 in).
Based on the initial information revealed on the Nook Tablet, it and its rival, the Kindle Fire, are incredibly, remarkably similar. They both run on customized Android systems and have 7-inch screens. They weigh almost the same, although the Kindle Fire is 0.5 ounces heavier.
While the Nook Tablet costs $50 more, Barnes & Noble expects that the insides of the device will make up for the price difference. The Nook Tablet has twice as much storage space at 16 GB, a longer battery life by three and a half hours and 1 GB of memory, compared to the Fire’s 512 MB. Although, Gizmodo doesn’t think the RAM matters much since the iPad 2 has the same amount as the Kindle Fire and runs just fine.
As for the memory capacity, Barnes & Noble seems to have a clear edge there. However, it’s possible that it won’t matter much, since Amazon’s cloud will help out there to make up the difference — but it will only help as long as you have access to Wi-Fi.
The Nook Tablet and the Kindle Fire are even going on the market together. The Fire hits the market on Nov. 15, while the Nook is available Nov. 17.
At the launch event for the Nook Tablet, Barnes & Noble also announced lower prices for its other e-reader devices. The Nook Color is now the same price as the Kindle Fire at $199, and the Nook Simple Touch is only $99.
So in the war between Barnes & Noble and Amazon, for most people, the deciding factor might just be price after all. Consumers will have to decide if Barnes & Noble’s extra specs will make up the $50 difference.
