Barnes & Noble finally found a home for its collapsing hardware business: Samsung.
The Korean hardware giant will build Nook software into Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 tablets and sell them in Barnes & Noble retailers as Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nooks.
The announcement comes roughly four months after Barnes & Noble CEO Mike Huseby promised new hardware by late this year. Now, in a partnership with Samsung, he seems to have delivered on his promise, while mostly exiting the hardware business.
The 7-inch Tab 4 will be a co-branded Android device, but will offer the Barnes & Noble's Nook reading experience. The Nook HD tablets were notable for a consumer-friendly interface that allowed users to configure profiles for each family member.
“Standing behind these great new devices will be the power of our 40,000 Barnes & Noble booksellers combined with our deep bookselling and retail expertise to provide sales support and personalized in-store customer service for our lineup of new Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook products," Huseby said.
The current Galaxy Tab 4 costs $199.99, runs Android 4.4 (KitKat), features two cameras (1.3 megapixel on the front and 3 megapixel on the back) and boasts a 1280 x 800 screen, which is actually a lower screen resolution than Barnes & Noble's last 7-inch Nook HD (1440 x 900). No word yet on whether or not the Tab 4 Nook's will also offer access to Google Play.
Barnes & Noble will continue to sell its own GlowLight e-readers alongside the Tab 4 Nooks starting this August, and confirmed to Mashable that it will build new e-readers as well. Late last year, Barnes & Noble delivered an ultralight, 6.2-oz. e-reader with e-ink, but did little to market it during the holiday buying season.