The following is an excerpt from Phil Wahba | September 26, 2012 | Yahoo.com |
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Barnes & Noble Inc’s first hi-definition tablets, unveiled on Wednesday, were well received by analysts who said the devices keep the bookseller in the fight with Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc and Google Inc – for now.
The largest U.S. bookstore chain introduced a $199 7-inch Nook HD tablet that will go up against similar, recently launched products by Google and Amazon.com this holiday season.
The company also unveiled a $269 9-inch Nook HD+ tablet that will compete with the Apple iPad.
“The devices are in improvement in important ways over the previous generations of the Nook, and they one-up Amazon in some areas,” Forrester Research analyst Sarah Rotman Epps told Reuters.
While the new products, thinner and lighter than their rivals, come a few months after Microsoft said it would invest $605 million over five years in Barnes & Noble’s Nook e-reader and college business, the bookstore chain still faces a daunting task.
“Barnes & Noble is the smallest player trying to do the software and the hardware development, and they don’t have the financial means beyond what Microsoft has already fronted them to keep up in the arms race,” said Morningstar analyst Peter Wahlstrom.
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