Barnes & Noble Cuts Nook Tablets Prices

Barnes & Noble Inc cut prices on three models of its Nook e-reader and tablet devices on Aug. 12, 2012 ahead of the peak of the back to school season and amid speculation that rival Amazon.com Inc is preparing to launch a new version of its Kindle Fire tablet.

Barnes & Noble, which has said the Nook has allowed it to win 27 percent of the US e-books market, said it had slashed the retail price of its Nook tablet with 16 GB of memory to $199 from $249. Amazon is the market leader with about 60 percent of e-book and e-reader sales.

The largest U.S. bookstore chain also shaved $20 off its 8 GB version of the tablet to $179. Barnes & Noble lowered the price of its Nook Color by $20, bringing it to $149, the latest reduction for that model.

The new prices went into effect on Aug. 12.