Barnes & Noble’s series of Nook readers is not dead yet. The company has confirmed The edge that although he no longer has stock, he still plans to sell his Kindle competitors as soon as new units hit stores later this spring. In fact, there is a previously unannounced tablet that the company will reveal immediately.
Susan McCulloch, Barnes & Noble’s senior director of Nook operations, tells The edge that the company will bring back its Nook tablet range with “a new NOOK tablet designed with Lenovo” that will be announced next week. Barnes & Noble’s latest Nook tablet was the $ 10.1-inch Nook, the largest Android tablet ever. But with every other Android tablet from Barnes & Noble, it has not been available since July.
Currently, the Nook GlowLight 3 and GlowLight Plus e-readers share a similar fate, as both are listed as sold out completely online. This is apparently the first time that both products are not available at the same time Good e-reader. Some stores still have stock available, leading to speculation that Barnes & Noble might shut down the Nook line altogether – something we’ve seen with products like Apple’s HomePod.
But the lack of inventory is actually due to an exceptionally strong sales of the two products, which McCulloch attributes to an increase in reading over the past year. “As far as issues go, it’s obviously bitterly sweet for a retailer,” she added.
This would be impressive, as the Nook GlowLight 3 and GlowLight Plus are more than slightly outdated. (The GlowLight 3 was released in 2017, while the larger GlowLight Plus is almost two years old.) But it seems the dwindling supply is only due to increased demand, unlike the innovative models from Barnes & Noble an exit from the e-reader business completely.
Despite the chance, it looks like the Nook brand is going to get another refreshment in the coming weeks, instead of folding. Barnes & Noble does not let its older e-reader hardware or the incredibly saturated Android tablet market stand in its way.