With Amazon’s new Kindle Fire tablet gaining a lot of attention, not just as the company’s first Android tablet, but as a possible e-reader as well, Barnes & Noble’s new NookColor seems to have taken a backseat. There has been rumors that suggested B&N has plans to launch a new NookColor, but now it seems that thanks to The Digital Reader, that release could come as early as the 7th of November.

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In a way this makes sense, especially since the last Nook was almost a year ago, so keeping to a yearly refresh of the hardware makes sense for B&N. In fact it seems like B&N has big plans for the new NookColor, even going as far as discontinuing the music/dvd/audiobooks department to make way for a new Nook department.

“Every morning at work, we have a meeting. We discuss everything from new cafe product to books and music/dvd releases, as well as store goals. This morning, during our meeting, we were talking about this brand new NOOK department. Nook has never been considered a department, ever. Our store has went through an entire makeover the past couple weeks. We discontinued music/dvd/and audiobooks. we expanded Toys/Games to the back as a new department. in the center we took away the customer service counter and built a massive NOOK boutique. This space is HUGE, with bright lights, LED TVS, touch screen POS systems, the works. Our manager told us, this space was not designed to house just 2 nooks. He was being candid, he said, November 7th there will be a major announcement from the company. he concluded saying it was exciting times. Obviously something is coming.”

So what do you guys think? Is Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet and competitive pricing a much more attractive option, or will B&N loyalists stick with the new NookColor when it is announced on the 7th of November, assuming that the information is accurate?

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