Barnes and Noble Cuts Price of Nook

Book seller trims its prices as seven-inch tablet war heats up

The real competition in the tablet wars may be among the seven-inch tablets. Not only are there more of these smaller tablets, the prices are getting lower.

Book retailer Barnes and Noble has cut the price of its 8GB Nook Tablet by $20 to $179. The 16GB unit has been reduced $50 to $199 and the Nook Color will sell for $149, a $20 price reduction.

All of this comes ahead of reports in the industry that the company is preparing to launch a new, updated version of the tablet. It also comes amid rumors that Apple plans to launch a smaller version of its iPad this fall, which industry analysts say would be a game-changing event in the small-tablet space.

Trying to gain on Amazon

The Nook started out as an e-reader, just like Amazon's Kindle, but Barnes and Nobel introduced the Nook Tablet last year in response to Amazon's Kindle Fire. Like the Kindle Fire, the Nook Tablet not only downloads books but music and video content as well.

Barnes and Nobel perhaps telegraphed the price reductions last month when it offered a discount on the 16GB Nook. The company has run a number of price promotions as it attempts to chip away at Amazon's market share.

Seven-inch tablets generally sell at the $200 price point, though you can purchase a lesser-known brand for less. If Apple does, in fact, introduce a smaller iPad, it is expected to enter the market at around $200.

The original iPad, a full-sized tablet with nine-inch screen, set the market at $500 when it was introduced in 2010.  

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