Barnes & Noble’s CEO previously criticized the 8GB of storage available on Amazon’s $199 Kindle Fire as “deficient for a media tablet” — seeking to justify the additional $50 for Barnes & Noble’s 16GB Nook Tablet.
Well, it looks like the bookseller may be changing its approach. The Verge has documentation from Wal-Mart showing that Barnes & Noble plans to launch an 8GB Nook Tablet in a couple of days.
No official word on price, but something closer to $199 would make sense.
Numbers released last week by research firm iSuppli showed the Kindle Fire with 14 percent market share among media tablets in the fourth quarter — twice the market share of Barnes & Noble’s Nook tablets.
Amazon has been selling the Kindle Fire for a price close to its cost in an attempt to build market share — hoping to make up for it in the long run through increased sales of media content and subscriptions.