Barnes & Noble Adds High-Res, Newsstand Support To Nook For Android App

Tablet users read too! Right? Barnes & Noble sure thinks so, as the company responsible for the Kindle's most serious competition to date (the NOOK) has just announced an updated version of the free NOOK For Android e-reading application. With the update, customers using 7" or larger tablets can access over 140 NOOK Newsstand titles, and furthermore, they'll enjoy an optimized reading experience designed to take advantage of large and extra large, high-resolution Android tablet screens.

The app's available today through the Android Market, V CAST Apps, Samsung Apps, GetJar, and AppsLib, and while Honeycomb tablets are just now starting to hit the market, Android 3.0 devices are certainly included as supported. You'll need Android 2.1+ to take advantage, but you don't actually need a NOOK device. Just an account, an Android tablet and enough free time to actually read a book. Grab if you please -- it's free!

Barnes & Noble Updates NOOK™ for Android™ App, Gives Tablet Users Access to Largest Digital Periodical Offering on Android

More than 140 NOOK Newsstand™ Titles Including Interactive Magazines with Exclusive ArticleView™ Now Available to Android Tablet Customers

Optimized Reading Experience for Most 7-Inch and Larger Tablets Including Honeycomb

Free App Now Available in Android Market, V CAST Apps, Samsung Apps, GetJar, and AppsLib

New York, New York – May 12, 2011 – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller, today announced an updated version of its popular, free NOOK for Android eReading application that brings the most comprehensive selection of digital periodicals to customers with Android™ tablets including more than 140 top magazine and newspaper brands from ESPN The Magazine and The Economist to Food & Wine and Us Weekly. To take advantage of large and extra large, high-resolution Android tablet screens, NOOK for Android now offers customers an optimized library grid view and reading experience with enhanced book margins and line spacing, as well as an improved shopping experience and more. The new app features are available for popular 7-inch and larger tablets using Android OS 2.1 and higher (Honeycomb).

Today’s announcement marks the largest digital newsstand offering for Android tablet customers to date, with more than 140 of the best daily, weekly and monthly periodicals, all optimized for high-resolution displays in rich color. Barnes & Noble’s interactive NOOK Magazine™ experience, previously available only to NOOK Color™ Reader’s Tablet™ customers, is now available to the Android tablet community, featuring more than 120 popular titles such as Esquire, Maxim, Men’s Health, Rolling Stone, Newsweek, Popular Science, PC Magazine, Elle, O, The Oprah Magazine, Travel + Leisure and many more. NOOK for Android customers with large tablets can also enjoy favorite NOOK Newspapers™ including USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and The Chicago Tribune. All can be enjoyed with a 14-day free trial, via subscription or purchased in single issue form.

With NOOK for Android on larger tablets, magazine reading is easy and engaging with full-color pages in landscape and portrait mode, and Barnes & Noble’s exclusive ArticleView technology (formerly available only on NOOK Color) which features only the article’s text, customized to the reader’s favorite style, on a central panel on the display. NOOK Magazines also feature a universal, easy-to-use reading experience with a slider to jump to the desired page, pinch and zoom to enlarge images and more.

“With our free, updated NOOK for Android application, we’re delivering customers with Android tablets a great optimized reading experience and access to the largest ever collection of interactive magazines, as well as top newspapers, all optimized for high-resolution displays,” said Jamie Iannone, President of Digital Products at Barnes & Noble. “Using their Android tablets, customers can enjoy our collection of more than two million digital books, as well as their morning paper and latest magazines, delivered right to their device through their NOOK for Android app, for an amazing periodical experience which includes our innovative ArticleView feature.”

NOOK Newsstand and the optimized book reading experience on NOOK for Android will be available for customers using 7-inch and larger Android OS 2.1 and higher (Honeycomb) tablets with 800 x 480 (160 DPI or less) or higher screen resolution, and include Samsung Galaxy Tab™, Motorola XOOM™, LG G-Slate™ and ARCHOS internet tablets, among others. NOOK for Android customers on smartphones will also enjoy minor performance enhancements.

NOOK for Android gives customers with Android smartphones and tablets access to Barnes & Noble’s expansive NOOK Bookstore™, one of the world’s largest digital content catalogs, with the most NOOK Books™ priced at $9.99 or less. As part of Barnes & Noble’s promise to “Read What You Love, Anywhere You Like™,” customers can enjoy NOOK Books from their Barnes & Noble digital library on their NOOK Color, NOOK eReader devices and mobile and computing devices using free NOOK eReading software or apps.

Expanded App Availability

To make it easy for Android smartphone and tablet customers to find and download the free NOOK for Android app, Barnes & Noble has expanded availability for the free app to include Android Market, V CAST Apps from Verizon Wireless, Samsung Apps, GetJar, and AppsLib, with more to come. NOOK for Android will also be pre-loaded or made available in future firmware upgrades for some of the current leading and highly anticipated Android tablets coming to market. Customers can learn more about NOOK for Android v2.6.1 at www.bn.com/nookforandroid.