Barnes & Noble Will Quit Manufacturing Nook Color Tablets

Tablets are growing in popularity worldwide and cutting into PC sales, but Barnes & Noble has decided to get out of the crowded tablet biz. Their Nook comes in single-purpose e-reader and full-color Android tablet varieties, They’re still going to design and sell e-readers, but future color tablets will be “co-branded” with existing tablet manufacturers that you’ve probably already heard of.

That’s because the real money is in selling customers content for their devices, not just the devices themselves. Barnes & Noble dropped the news as part of their earnings statement press release. “The company plans to significantly reduce losses in the NOOK segment by limiting risks associated with manufacturing,” they explained helpfully. In future, they’ll be happy to sell you a copy of Fifty Shades of Grey for any tablet you happen to own, but they don’t want to worry about designing and manufacturing those tablets anymore.

The company says that it will still support all Nook devices, including in their brick and mortar stores, into the future. For consumers, the main thing to take home from this news is that if you’re interested in a tablet and have faith that B&N will stay in business and keep to their word that they’ll support the tablets and honor customers’ warranties, there will be some great deals on the Nook HD and HD+ as they clear out inventory this holiday season.

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