Barnes & Noble announced today they have entered into a new partnership with Google to bring several new apps to their Nook HD and Nook HD+ products. Foremost among the additions is the Google Play Store, which will increase the number of available apps for Nook HD owners from about 10,000 to well over 700,000. B&N CEO William Lynch indicated the new partnership is a result of research and sales data from the recently completed holiday shopping season that indicated users are shifting to more general purpose tablets instead of e-readers. To be successful in the tablet market, “the breadth of applications available is really critical.”
No terms of the deal were released, but other Google apps that will now be available to Nook HD device owners include the Chrome Browser, Gmail, YouTube and Google Maps. Through the Google Play store, users will also be able to access Music. The newest line of Nook HD devices were released last September. B&N is trying to compete with top tablet manufacturers like Samsung, Amazon, Apple and Asus. Unfortunately for B&N, after weak holiday sales, they have slipped out of the top five tablet manufacturers, replaced by Microsoft during the first quarter of 2013 according to IDC.
The Nook HD is B&N’s version of a 7-inch tablet and sells for $199. The 9-inch version of the device is the Nook HD+ and sells for $269. The hardware is comparable to some of the more popular tablets on the market and the addition of access to the Google Play Store should position B&N to be much more competitive in the tablet market.
source: WSJ
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