Barnes & Noble announces new touch-enabled Nook for $139 (video)
Not to be outdone by Kobo which just unleashed it's latest E Ink reader yesterday the folks at Barnes & Noble are back with the latest update to their line of Nook devices. The “all new” Nook is boast the same Zeforce infrared touch layer …
Context & Ripple Effects
This launch lands one day after Kobo unveiled its latest E Ink reader, making the two announcements a direct exchange in the sub-$200 e-reader market rather than an isolated product cycle. For Barnes & Noble it is also a portfolio cleanup: the company confirmed in January that it was phasing out the underperforming Nook 3G while having sold millions of Nooks overall, and it spent the spring building out the software side — Flash support for Nook Color in April and the launch of the Nook Store.
The move comes against an awkward backdrop: reports circulating since mid-May that Barnes & Noble has put itself up for sale remain unconfirmed, which makes a competitively priced new device read partly as a proof-of-viability for the bookseller's digital strategy. Same-day pickup from CrunchGear alongside Engadget shows the story travelled across the usual gadget press within hours.
First-order effects
- Barnes & Noble now fields a touchscreen E Ink reader at $139, replacing button-based navigation with the Zeforce infrared layer and giving store shoppers a direct answer to Kobo's reader announced the previous day.
Second-order effects
- Kobo, whose announcement this device shadows, is pushed into a feature-and-price response within days rather than its next scheduled refresh, while Amazon faces a touchscreen rival undercutting Kindle's differentiation at a key holiday-half price point.
Third-order effects
- If e-reader hardware keeps converging on near-identical touchscreen designs around the $139 mark, competition migrates to content economics — exactly why Barnes & Noble spent April standing up the Nook Store — and device margins compress toward zero for everyone but the ecosystem owner.
- For a retailer rumored to be seeking buyers, sustaining a credible device line becomes an argument about whether bookstore chains can own their digital distribution rather than rent shelf space inside someone else's platform.
The trend: E-reader hardware is commoditizing into a common touchscreen design at a shared ~$139 price point, shifting the competitive battleground to ebook storefronts and content lock-in.