Barnes and Noble have revealed in an SEC filing on Wednesday that the company plan to announce a new e-reader device on May 24th which will target the iPad market.
Barnes and Noble have filed ‘Form 8-K' in compliance with regulations regarding insider trading Reuters have reported. According to this filing the company “indicated it expects to make an announcement on May 24, 2011 regarding the launch of a new eReader device” with an investor analyst meeting.
There is no information just yet as to whether this new device will fall under the NOOK name, the successful series of readers they have been producing since 2009. They have been one of the main competitors against Amazon's Kindle in recent years.
Last week, the Nook Color received an update to the Google Android operating system that opened up new features, such as email, web browser and even some games.
William Lynch, chief executive for the company said “We intend for Barnes & Noble to be a leader in the exploding market for digital content.”
Apple may have other threats on the horizon, with rumors that Amazon are set on releasing a fully fledged tablet device later in the year. iOS developers have said that Amazon have been talking to them to port their applications over to the Kindle platform.
Amazon have had a huge success with the Kindle, in the e-reader market, saying that the latest product has broken all of their store records, helped by the low pricing and book support online. Their interface is geared totally for the inexperienced user to easily purchase books, download and install them, all via a single interface click. This has appealed also to the older audience who find a normal laptop or even tablet system too complicated for such a basic task.
If Amazon release a new colour tablet with their full support, Apple may actually have a very big threat on their hands. That said, up until now Apple's iPad sales are literally in a different league when compared with any of the competing products current on the market.
KitGuru: Amazon or Barnes and Noble in with even a remote chance of getting iPad sales?