Hasta La Gadget!

The Nook Color (center), flanked by Amazon’s Kindle (left) and the iPad. Photo: Tim Carmody/Wired.com

Barnes & Noble has touted its Nook Color as “the reader’s tablet” since the product’s inception. But after the company announced the launch of an Android OS update and extended features on the device this week, we’re not sure what to call it anymore.

E-reader? Tablet? E-tablet?

Version 1.2 of the Nook Color’s firmware launched Monday morning, bringing Android OS 2.2 (Froyo) to existing users of the e-reader tablet. The software includes expansions to web surfing on the device, including Adobe Flash and Air support, as well as the ability to receive e-mail.

The company also announced the launch of the Nook App store. Customers are now able to download and use apps on their Nook Color devices, while still being able to purchase books from the Barnes & Noble reading catalog.

The Nook Color app marketplace will launch with a relatively scant 125-plus apps — less than the amount launched with RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, which debuted with more than 3,000 apps, though more than Motorola’s 50-ish Honeycomb tablet apps available for the Xoom upon its launch. Barnes & Noble says its app market will grow, as more than 5,000 developers have already registered for the Nook Color developer program, and hundreds of already-submitted apps are in line for vetting by B&N before being released for purchase.

One big drawback: Users of the Froyo-based Nook Color won’t be able to download Android apps directly from the Android Market. They’ll have to wait for developers to port versions of apps over to the Nook Color. That’s a gigantic ecosystem — approximately 200,000 apps — that’s completely out of reach for Nook users.

But B&N says it’s easy to port Android apps to the Nook Color. “Our SDK [software development kit] is an extension of the standard Android SDK,” said Claudia Romanini, director of developer relations for the Nook Color. “Developers don’t have to do much other than remove features not supported by our hardware (GPS, camera, telephony), and then rescale the app in terms of font sizes and graphics, to make sure it works on our display.”

The Nook Color’s transition into an e-reader-tablet hybrid may be a smart move for Barnes & Noble. Gartner research forecasts sales of 11 million e-readers in 2011, but it’s a much smaller market than tablets, where IDC predicts 44.6 million units to ship in 2011. (IDC defines media tablets as iPads or Android tablets that don’t rely exclusively on E Ink displays.)

The Nook Color also edges itself into a smaller market, both figuratively and literally. It’s a 7-inch device, on par with that of the Samsung Galaxy Tab (which also runs Android 2.2 Froyo) and RIM’s PlayBook, and significantly smaller than the 10.1-inch Xoom (Android’s flagship tablet product) and the 9.7-inch iPad 2. The smaller form factor could appeal to audiences that don’t want the unwieldiness that comes with extra screen real estate.

Barnes and Noble’s tablet falls short of other tablets in other respects. The Nook Color is running on an 800-MHz processor with 512 MB of RAM, inferior to the slew of dual-core, 1-GHz-plus processors featured in most 2011 tablet debuts. Also, the Nook Color is currently available in a Wi-Fi–only version, but not 3G or 4G. And it’s not running the most recent versions of Android: 2.3 “Gingerbread” or the tablet-optimized 3.0 “Honeycomb.”

The price, however, is hard to beat. At a paltry $250, the Nook Color’s bottom line bests the priciest of the new tablet debuts, many of which start at upward of $500.

“The Nook Color with its new Froyo upgrade is not an iPad, not even close,” Gartner analyst Allen Weiner wrote in a blog post. “But those who are looking for a great cross-media reading device with some nice new multimedia bells and whistles, it remains a go-to device.”

To install the new firmware, you can download it from Barnes & Noble and then sideload it onto the device. Or you can wait for an over-the-air update that will be pushed to all Nook Color customers next week.

We’ve been waiting for this day: our little reader would finally become a big boy tablet — without having to resort to any sort of hackery. We knew it was coming and, as of now, owners of the Barnes & Noble Nook Color should be receiving notices that their devices are ready to drop those training wheels and run some proper apps. Flash web browsing, downloads, games, e-mail, it’s all here. Click on through for our impressions and a video of the update in action.

Continue reading B&N Nook Color update released, brings Froyo, apps, and Flash, we go hands-on (video)

B&N Nook Color update released, brings Froyo, apps, and Flash, we go hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Apr 2011 08:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After having already penetrated the UK’s e-book market last year, Amazon has now launched the German Kindle Store, bringing more than 650,000 titles to Europe’s most populous country. With today’s launch, the German Kindle Store instantly becomes Germany’s biggest e-bookstore, with some 25,000 German-language titles, thousands of free classics, and a similarly bountiful collection of independent newspapers and magazines. Customers will also be able to purchase the latest Kindle and Kindle 3G models directly from Amazon.de, along with a whole new suite of free, German-language Kindle apps for iPhone, iPad, PC and Android platforms. Germany’s writers and publishers, meanwhile, can use the Kindle Direct Publishing service to make their works instantly available on the new store, where, if they’re lucky, they may get to pocket some handsome royalties, as well. Full press release after the break.

Continue reading Amazon launches German Kindle Store with 650,000 titles and lots of long words

Amazon launches German Kindle Store with 650,000 titles and lots of long words originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 08:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re sure there are still scores of lifelong book lovers whose paper tomes we can pry from their cold, dead fingers, but the evidence strongly suggests that plenty of others are rapidly warming to their shiny new e-readers. US sales of e-books generated about $90.3 million in revenue in February — roughly triple the sales reported in the same month last year. To boot, they were the dominant format for trade titles, a category that includes adult and children’s works. Meanwhile, printed books declined 34 percent and 16 percent in those respective areas, with gentler, single-digit drops for education and religious titles. That follows strong January sales and echoes what Amazon said about e-books outselling print versions two to one. To be fair, of course, February is a time of year when people who received e-readers during the holidays load ’em up with bestsellers — you know, to keep them entertained during spring break.

Continue reading E-book sales triple year-over-year, paper books decline in every category

E-book sales triple year-over-year, paper books decline in every category originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Apr 2011 16:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here’s a scenario: what if we told you that your next Kindle could be had for $25 less than retail? What if we told you it came from the rear of a nondescript white van? Or what if we told you that you’d first need to sign up for 842 email marketing scams? Thankfully, none of those scenarios are ones we’re looking to tell you about. Instead, we’re here to introduce you to the world’s first ad-supported Kindle, going on sale within Target and Best Buy locations for $114. That represents a gentle $25 savings compared to the price of today’s cheapest Kindle, but those 2500 pennies don’t come free — you’ll be asked to endure “advertisements on the bottom of the device’s home page and on its screen savers.” Furthermore, it sets a new precedent in the gadget arena that could very well carry over to ad-discounted tablets, netbooks, PMPs, and who knows what else. At this point, Buick, Olay and Visa will be advertising, and we get the impression that said list will bloom in due time. It’s hard to say just how intrusive they’ll be, but Kindle director Jay Marine seems to think that “customers are going to love it.”

We aren’t so sure. While it’s crystal clear that the general populace adores coupon cutting, it seems problematic to us to ship a pair of identical products that cost within $25 of one another and expect Joe Sixpack to grok the difference. In fact, we’re guessing that this will inevitably lead to consumer complaints from those who can’t figure out why their “on sale Kindle” isn’t nearly as enjoyable to read as “Bob’s Kindle… that he found during a sale.” At any rate, a demo of the new device displayed a screen saver deal “where customers would pay $10 for a $20 gift card to Amazon,” and while no ads will appear in e-books, there’s still “a clear advertisement” along the bottom of the home screen. All that said, here’s the key feature that Amazon’s seemingly overlooking: an option in the software to pay back the $25 a customer skimped on to do away with the ads on their ad-supported e-reader. Solves the buyer’s remorse problem, at least.

Update: And it’s official — PR’s after the break!

Continue reading Ad-supported Kindle to ship May 3rd: saves $25, includes lot of enticement

Ad-supported Kindle to ship May 3rd: saves $25, includes lot of enticement originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Apr 2011 17:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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