With Father’s Day buying finished, Barnes & Noble is dropping the list price on the original model of their nook ereader to $199 and has launched a model that connects via wifi instead of 3G priced at $149.
They have released another software update as well (version 1.4) and nook owners now have access to free wifi on AT&T’s “entire nationwide network.”
The company says online orders for the new model “will begin shipping this week” and they “expect [it] will be in-stock in select Barnes & Noble and Best Buy stores for immediate purchase later this month and rolling out to all stores later this summer.”
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Digitimes Research claims that ereaders shipped from Chinese manufacturers totaled 1.43 million units in the first quarter of this year, along with 740,000 units “in April-May 2010.” In that most recent period they say nook comprised 37 percent of shipments and Kindle accounted for only 16 percent as Amazon “is reducing…inventory as it prepares for the launch of a new version of its e-book reader in July-August.”
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