Hasta La Gadget!

Barnes & Noble’s Nook HD and Nook HD+ tablets went on sale in the UK towards the end of last month — without an on-board video service. That was due in early December and has been added today, as B&N has expanded its licensing partnerships — including with BBC Worldwide, HBO, NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, STARZ, and Warner Bros — to offer the Nook Video service in the U.K. Content from other studios will be added in future, B&N added.

The addition of the Nook Video store brings the tablets in line with Amazon’s similarly priced Kindle Fire slates — which offer a video service powered by Amazon-owned LOVEFilm.

Nook Video offers TV shows and movies in standard and HD formats, for streaming and downloading from the Nook Store. Downloaded videos are stored in the Nook Cloud — enabling Nook owners to watch the content on other devices (once the free Nook Video apps launch).

B&N’s tablets are also compatible with the UltraViolet platform — meaning UV-branded digital content bought via other channels will also be viewable on the Nook HD and HD+, once a user’s UltraViolet account has been linked to the Nook Cloud.

Release follows below

LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–NOOK Media LLC, a subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller and leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today announced its NOOK Video offering of films and TV shows is available in the UK for NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ customers through new and expanded licensing partnerships with major studios and leading content providers including BBC Worldwide, HBO, NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, STARZ, and Warner Bros. Entertainment. Barnes & Noble is also the first digital retailer to offer UltraViolet titles in the UK, bringing unmatched convenience and portability to customers’ compatible digital video collections.

NOOK Video features a diverse digital collection of popular classics, blockbuster hits, new releases, original television series and local favourites available for streaming and download. NOOK customers across the UK can now shop and experience their favorite movies and TV shows like never before seen in spectacular colour and stunning definition on NOOK HD, the world’s highest-resolution 7-inch HD tablet, and NOOK HD+, the lightest full HD tablet, for an unparalleled portable entertainment experience. Offered in standard and HD formats, videos that are streamed and downloaded from the NOOK Store will be stored safely and securely in the NOOK Cloud, so NOOK Video content can also be enjoyed on other devices via soon-to-launch free NOOK Video apps.

NOOK Video offers something for everyone in the family to enjoy, including Sherlock, Call the Midwife, Game of Thrones^®, True Blood^®, Ted, The Bourne Legacy, The Amazing Spider-Man^™, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Men in Black 3, Spartacus, Party Down, The Dark Knight Rises, Inception, Happy Feet Two, and many more. The company is also planning to make content available from other leading studios, to be announced.

The launch of NOOK Video makes it the first digital retailer of UltraViolet titles in the UK, making it easier than ever for UK customers to integrate compatible physical DVD and Blu-ray Disc purchases and digital video collections across their devices. As the first UltraViolet-enabled tablets to seamlessly integrate a customer’s compatible digital video collection across their devices right out of the box, NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ customers can now easily link their UltraViolet accounts to the NOOK Cloud allowing them to view their previously and newly purchased UltraViolet-enabled movies and TV shows via NOOK devices and NOOK Video apps. In addition to purchasing a digital version via NOOK Video, customers can shop for DVDs and Blu-ray Discs with the UltraViolet logo, add them to their digital collection, and instantly watch compatible titles from the NOOK Cloud.

“We purposefully designed our new NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ tablets with stunning high resolution displays for unmatched reading and entertainment experiences, and we’re excited to expand our content partnerships to bring NOOK Video to our growing base of UK customers,” said Jonathan Shar, Vice President & General Manager, Emerging Digital Content, NOOK Media. “NOOK Video provides customers with the flexibility to enjoy their favorite movies and TV shows wherever they go and however they choose – all in spectacular digital quality.”

“We’re excited to be part of the initial video offering by NOOK in the UK,” said Claude London, Digital Director, BBC Worldwide Consumer Products. “We hope that this partnership will provide consumers with flexible access to our wide variety of content including some of our major new releases and well-loved back catalogue.”

“Barnes & Noble becoming the first UltraViolet retailer in the UK is going to change the way consumers purchase and enjoy their digital movie libraries,” said Jim Wuthrich, President, International, Warner Home Video and Digital Distribution. “With UltraViolet-enabled movies, consumers know their collection is stored securely in the cloud and can be accessed across numerous devices, including the NOOK HD and NOOK HD+. This convenience, combined with the ability for consumers to share their digital libraries with up to five family members, makes NOOK Video a very compelling destination to purchase movies.”

Barnes & Noble’s NOOK Video store has launched in the UK, offering TV and movie purchases and rental on the NOOK HD and HD+ tablets, in addition to UltraViolet digital copies of existing DVD and Blu-ray purchases. The freshly-opened store also features new content, after B&N inked new deals with BBC Worldwide, HBO, Sony Pictures, and others, in both standard- and high-definition.

NBCUniversal, STARZ, and Warner Bros. Entertainment have also got content in the new store, and B&N will offer both streaming and direct-to-device downloads as playback options, depending on your connectivity and preference. Other studio deals are in the pipeline, B&N claims.

NOOK Video is also the first digital provider to support UltraViolet in the UK. Intended to deliver the best of both physical and digital media, UltraViolet makes digital copies of movies available to buyers of select DVD and Blu-ray content.

The NOOK HD and HD+ went on sale in the UK in late November, priced from £159 for the 7-inch HD and from £229 for the 9-inch HD+. NOOK Video is already available for NOOK HD/HD+ users in the US.

NOOK Video store goes live in UK: First to support UltraViolet is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week Barnes & Noble has made the call on their financial second quarter, citing increased spending on their Nook division to keep pace with Amazon.com and Apple. The company made it clear that as the Nook accounts for 8.5 percent of their total revenue, it wasn’t going away any time soon – meanwhile same-store in-store book sales dropped over Black Friday weekend – imagine that! Barnes & Noble also reported that quarterly sales of its high-margin digital periodicals and books went up significantly.

Chief Executive William Lynch let it be known that his forecast for the fiscal year stands – he believes that the Nook segment of the company’s loss will narrow without a doubt. It’s not out of the question as just half way through the fiscal year the business is in, loss had increased just 6.1 percent to $108.1 million – much narrower than it could have been.

Meanwhile the new Nook HD and Nook HD+ tablets were launched right after the company’s second fiscal quarter – that being the one ending on October 27th of 2012. The real battle, then, is now for Barnes & Noble’s tablet warriors to take out the iPad mini as well as the Kindle Fire HD 7 and 8.9. They’re certainly making strides in Target and Wal-Mart stores, it seems, as the company reported sales doubling from last year over Thanksgiving weekend.

This was helped at least a little bit by the fact that Target and Walmart no longer sell Kindle tablets of any kind. Lynch noted that Barnes & Noble continues to rule a 25-30 percent share of the e-books market in the USA, while net quarterly income was positive at $2.2 million – this much, much better than last year’s results at this time which were a loss of $6.6 million.

[via Reuters]

Barnes and Noble Q2 earnings show digital content grind is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Barnes & Noble’s NOOK apps for iPhone, iPad, and Android have been updated, adding broader language support and arriving in the UK download stores for the first time. The new apps – v3.3 – add British English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish language features, along with iPhone 5 support and VoiceOver functionality with Apple’s accessibility tools; there’s also screen magnification on iOS devices.

Barnes & Noble launched its NOOK ereaders in the UK market over the past month or so, initially with the NOOK Simple Touch and its GlowLight illuminated sibling, and then with the NOOK HD and HD+ earlier this week. The retailer has said that the NOOK Video download and rental store will launch in the UK sometime in December.

Cross device synchronization means that any downloads made to a dedicated NOOK device can also be added to a smartphone or tablet running the NOOK app. NOOK Sync keeps your point in the book up to date, as well as pulling across bookmarks, highlights, and any notes that have been made.

There’s also NOOK Newsstand, for digital magazines and newspapers, with print-style layout. You can find NOOK for Android in the Play store, while NOOK for iOS is available in the App Store. Both are free downloads.

NOOK apps for iOS and Android updated for UK debut is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Users of Barnes & Noble’s Nook app on iOS will love to hear that the app has just been updated to version 3.3.0. The key feature of the new update is the support for Apple’s VoiceOver accessibility feature which helps people with reading disabilities. This also means that the Nook app is now in par with Apple’s very own iBooks, previously the only iOS e-reader app that can read aloud content on books.

Version 3.3.0 also includes the nifty screen magnifier or zoom which also aids those with vision problems. Zoom isn’t just about increasing the font size, it also has buttons, icons, and other functionalities that users can operate on their iOS device. That’s not all. The Nook app on iOS now also supports iPhone 5 and more languages including British English, French, Italian, German and Spanish. The update also brings U.K. NOOK Books and Magazines support.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Google To Fix December Omission In Android 4.2, Skype For Android 3.0 Available,