With the new $199 Nook HD tablet shipping to customers, Barnes & Noble has now lowered the prices on last year's Nook Tablet models.
It is unclear at this point just how long the company will keep those models on the market, but it seems it will continue selling them throughout the lucrative holiday shopping season.
Barnes & Noble announced on Saturday, Nov. 3, that it is officially lowering the prices on its Nook Tablet and Nook Color starting Sunday, Nov. 4. The Nook Tablet is dropping to $179 for the 16GB version and $159 for the 8GB model, while the entry-level Nook Color is now down to $139. In other words, the company dropped $20 off the price of each of the three devices.
"Just in time for the holidays, these new lower prices make NOOK a great gift for anyone in the family," said Jamie Iannone, Barnes & Noble's President of Digital Products. "With everything from interactive children's books to the best collection of top 100 magazines in rich color, NOOK is perfect for anyone who likes to read."
The price cuts for the older models come as the company's latest tablet, the Nook HD, has started shipping out to early adopters. The Nook HD comes with a $199 price tag for the 8GB model and $229 for the 16GB version, looking to compete against the big contenders on the 7-inch tablet market: Apple's new iPad Mini, Google's Nexus 7, and Amazon's Kindle Fire HD. The iPad Mini starts at $329, while the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD both start at $199.
Barnes & Noble's new Nook HD tablet sports a resolution of 1,440 x 900 pixels at 243 pixels per inch (ppi), higher than the resolution of competing 7-inch tablets. The display is also more anti-reflective and has stronger black levels, and according to PCMag's Sacha Segan it is "the best small-tablet screen available right now."
Moreover, Barnes & Noble also has a Nook HD+ tablet in the cards, a 9-inch slate with a 1,920 x 1,280 pixel resolution at 256 ppi, which will be available in either 13GB or 32GB configurations. The Nook HD+ is expected to cost $269 for the 16GB version and $299 for the 32GB one, and the company is looking to make an official launch on Nov. 8.
With new devices out or due to launch soon, it makes sense that Barnes & Noble is looking to drop the price tags of its older tablets to encourage sales through the holiday shopping season.
