We’ve known for a little while now that Barnes and Noble might soon decide to hang up the hat on their Nook Tablet line, but it’s still a sad affair to see them go. In many cases, the Nook HD and Nook HD+ devices are superior to Amazon’s Kindle Fire series, but they never quite caught on with consumers. Because of that, Barnes and Noble recently announced that they will discontinue manufacturing the tablets in-house.
The company will continue to develop e-ink devices, which basically serve as portable readers. The Nook HD and HD+ however, will be no more. Both models are currently on sale for $129 and $149 respectively. Although they are powered by only a dual-core processor, that price is very good since both tablets have full access to Google Play and Google services.
I’m willing to bet the sale will continue until the last of the tablets have been liquidated from inventory, but the official Barnes and Noble site just says for a “limited time.” There’s no word on whether or not another company will purchase the brand for use in the future. Although, the fact that Barnes and Noble explicitly mentioned production would discontinue “in-house” leads me to believe there’s still hope. Not that I’m necessarily rooting for the brand to stick around.
If you’re looking for a cheap Android tablet with stock Android support, now might be the time to pick up one of the Nook devices. They are very easily hacked, and also easy to load with custom ROMs. Furthermore, there’s an abundant supply of custom ROMs for the devices.
Barnes and Noble first released the Nook Color in 2010, but it failed to garner the same kind of consumer interest as Amazon’s famed Kindle devices. It was much of the same when Barnes and Noble updated their Nook line to include the Nook HD and Nook HD+. Even though countless reviews have praised Barnes and Noble’s tablet line, they were still remarkably overshadowed.
What do you think about this news? Do you own a Nook tablet? Are you upset that Barnes and Noble is discontinuing their tablet line, or could you care less?