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Barnes & Noble, Samsung to release co-branded tablets with Nook software

In the US, Barnes & Noble has signed an agreement with Samsung to release co-branded tablets with Nook software, reports Publishers Weekly. The first of the 7-inch co-branded tablets, called the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK, are expected to be released in August, and will likely cost less than US$400 (A$428). Customers who purchase a tablet will open the device to a page that connects with the Nook digital bookstore. According to Publishers Weekly, the agreement will allow Barnes & Noble to sell colour devices as well its black-and-white ereaders, which it will continue to make, and ‘meets B&N objectives of cutting its hardware manufacturing costs, while continuing to produce digital devices that will offer a link to its Nook content’. Barnes & Noble CEO Mike Huseby told Publishers Weekly that the deal will allow Barnes & Noble to ‘pivot from a hardware-centric company, to a content-centric company’. Barnes & Noble simultaneously announced that it will sublet its office in Palo Alto, California, to Google, and move the Nook staff to a smaller office in Santa Clara, California.

 

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Category: International news