Barnes & Noble launches 8GB NOOK Tablet at $199 to battle Amazon's Kindle Fire

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Barnes & Noble NOOK Tablet

Barnes & Noble NOOK Tablet

Today Barnes & Noble officially unwrapped the rumored 8GB version of its NOOK Tablet. Armed with a new $199 price tag, the 8GB NOOK Tablet finally looks positioned to do battle with Amazon's popular Kindle Fire, a similarly equipped 7-inch Android tablet.

Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch offered the following about today's announcement:

"NOOK Tablet is the highest-rated wireless media tablet in the 7-inch class, ultra-portable at under a pound, offers our exclusive VividView screen technology, and since its introduction this holiday has received rave reviews from customers about all its great features. We're pleased to now offer customers the ability to experience NOOK Tablet's unmatched content experience for only $199."

In addition to the new version of the NOOK Tablet, B&N also announced today that its original Android-powered NOOK tablet, the NOOK Color, has had its price reduced to $169 from the $199 it had been sitting at since the launch of the original NOOK Tablet.

The new 8GB NOOK Tablet is available starting today from Barnes & Noble retail locations and www.NOOK.com. It will also be available from major retailers such as Best Buy, Target, and Walmart in the coming weeks, though we expect it to go on sale at Walmart, at least, after midnight tonight.