Leaked Memo Shows Barnes & Noble Bringing Web Browser And Email To Simple Touch eReaders In June
An upcoming update will bring a web browser, email and update store app to Barnes & Noble's super affordable Nook Simple Touch line of e-readers, which will begin rolling out June 1 according …
Context & Ripple Effects
Barnes & Noble has run this playbook before: in 2011 it pushed an Android app store and Flash support onto the Nook Color, turning a reader into a budget tablet. The leaked memo reported by TechCrunch suggests the same move for its cheapest hardware — a June 1 update adding a web browser, email, and a store app to the Nook Simple Touch line, which launched at $139 in 2011 and gained the GlowLight front-light in 2012 (hands-on).
The timing matters because the dedicated e-reader market is shrinking fast: shipments fell 36% to 14.9 million units in 2012 as tablets displaced them, with forecasts pointing to just 7.1 million by 2016. Barnes & Noble is also under structural pressure — it confirmed in January 2013 it expects to close as many as a third of its retail stores over the next decade, and its Nook business now sits inside the Nook Media joint venture with Microsoft finalized in October 2012.
First-order effects
- Existing Nook Simple Touch owners get browser, email, and store access via a free software update reportedly rolling out June 1 — extending the useful life of hardware sold since 2011 without any new purchase.
- Barnes & Noble can keep marketing the $139-class device as more than a book reader, defending its cheapest price point against used tablets without launching new hardware.
Second-order effects
- Amazon faces pressure to match feature-for-feature on the comparably priced Kindle line, since a browser-and-email update narrows the practical gap between cheap e-ink readers and entry-level tablets.
- If the update works well on old hardware, it cannibalizes some urgency to buy a Nook Tablet or HD model, squeezing margins inside B&N's own lineup even as it protects the installed base.
Third-order effects
- The pattern points toward convergence by attrition: as dedicated reader shipments head toward single-digit millions, vendors stop treating e-ink devices as a separate category and instead maintain them as low-cost connected endpoints within a content ecosystem.
- For Barnes & Noble specifically, software updates that stretch device lifecycles are a way to keep Nook users attached to its storefront while the retail footprint shrinks — the store network and the device line are being repositioned around digital content delivery.
The trend: E-reader makers are using free firmware updates to blur the line between e-ink readers and budget tablets, defending an installed base in a market that tablet competition is steadily shrinking.