There’s a reason why stiff competition among manufacturers is always beneficial to us consumers. Just look at what’s happening right now at the 7-inch tablet market segment.
With the Google Nexus 7 launching to massive success both with critics and consumers, the other players in its market segment are beginning to feel the pressure. The first to blink is Barnes & Noble. The book retailer has announced that it has cut the prices of its tablet products.
According to the announcement, the Nook Color’s price has now been reduced from $169 to $149. The Nook 8GB tablet is now priced at $179 from its original price of $199, and the 16GB variant of the Nook tablet is now going to retail for $199 from its previous price of $249.
The price cut announcement is a very obvious strategy. Barnes & Noble hopes that its cheaper prices will make people who are shopping for a 7-inch tablet or wanted to purchase the Google Nexus 7 will be enticed to try out and buy the Nook instead. Both products run the Android mobile operating system. The difference here is that the Nook has a 16GB model that now costs as much as the 8GB Google Nexus 7. It will be interesting to see how consumers will react to this price war. Most critics think that the Nexus 7 is still the better purchase even with a smaller storage capacity.
The next significant battle will be when the new products come out to market. There’s the rumored iPad Mini and also the Kindle Fire 2 that is reportedly going to be announced soon. Barnes & Noble will also have to compete features wise especially now that the Nook Tablet 2 is supposedly going to be announced this November.
Originally posted on August 13, 2012 @ 5:40 am
