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NOOK® Simple Touch and NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight™ - Best-In-Class E Ink® eReaders - Now on Sale in UKLONDON --(Business Wire)-- Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller and leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today announced that its critically acclaimed E Ink readers - NOOK Simple Touch and NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight - are on sale for the first time in the UK, ahead of the Christmas shopping season. NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight(TM) (Photo: Business Wire) Beginning today, customers in the UK can order devices hailed as the top-rated eReaders by scores of US technology reviewers and consumers alike. Starting at the low price of only £79, high quality NOOK eReaders are available today for pre-order online and in select stores across the UK. Starting in early October, customers will be able to experience NOOK first-hand in more than 1,600 top high street retailers including John Lewis, Argos, Sainsbury's, Dixons and Waitrose, and Britain's leading bookshops, Blackwell's and Foyles. The bestselling NOOK eReaders will also be available through www.nook.co.uk beginning in early October. "Our high quality NOOK Simple Touch and NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight products pack in a lightning fast, easy to use touchscreen and access to our robust NOOK content catalogue, in an incredibly lightweight form at an amazing value," said Jamie Iannone, President of Digital Products at Barnes & Noble. "NOOK Simple Touch puts the focus on reading instead of the technology, while NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight is the first product to hit the market that is perfect for both outdoor and bedtime reading, with a built-in reading light. We're excited to give UK customers the opportunity to enjoy both of these devices, plus one of the world's largest digital bookstores with more than 2.5 million books, newspapers and magazines." Introducing NOOK to the UK The NOOK family of eReading products was developed by Barnes & Noble, the world's largest bookseller, with decades of bookselling and publishing expertise. NOOK is one of the fastest growing digital brands, and its growth will be further bolstered by expanding its award-winning products, software and content to the UK. With millions of NOOKs sold to reading lovers in the US, NOOK Simple Touch and NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight are the most highly acclaimed, easiest-to-use eReaders combining an ergonomic form factor with a paper-like, glare-free readability, even in bright sunlight. NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight is the first eReader that's perfect for outdoors, with no glare even in bright sunlight, combined with a fully adjustable integrated lighting solution for nighttime reading. It's like having two devices in one! Both products are extremely lightweight, feature extra-long battery life and built-in access via Wi-Fi® to the NOOK Store™. NOOK Simple Touch and NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight are available for only £79 and £109, respectively. Light, Compact and Portable NOOK Simple Touch's easy to hold, contoured design and soft-touch back make it easy and comfortable to read, even with just one hand, for extended periods of time. The sleek and durable device is compact enough to easily fit in a jacket, pocket, handbag or backpack. Both devices are lighter than a paperback at less than 200 grams. With 2GB of storage (1GB for content, 750 MB reserved for B&N content)*, NOOK can hold up to 1,000 eBooks and more content using the expandable memory. Easy-to-Use, Responsive Touchscreen With a simple tap to NOOK Simple Touch's intuitive 6-inch touchscreen, it's easy to navigate, shop and read. Customers can look up words, highlight passages, adjust the font size and style or search using the on-screen keyboard that appears only when the customer needs it. The paper-like E Ink display features crisp, clear text that's great for reading anywhere, even in bright sunlight. Brightest Innovation in Reading NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight was designed to address E Ink readers' number-one request: the ability to read in the dark to avoid bothering a significant other. The innovative lighting technology creates a better nighttime reading experience. GlowLight shines uniformly across the display, turns on instantly and adjusts with just a touch, so customers can control the amount of light illuminating their device, whether commuting or in a dark room. Like having two eReaders in one, NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight doubles as the ideal reading device for bed and bright sunlight. Long-Lasting Battery Life With NOOK Simple Touch and NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight, there's no need to bring a charger on a weekend break or holiday. NOOK Simple Touch is optimised for extra-long battery life, enabling customers to read for over two months on a single charge with Wi-Fi off.** NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight offers over one month on a single charge with the light on, or over two months with GlowLight off.*** A Personalised Experience Customers can make the NOOK experience their own, and can choose from seven font sizes and six font styles to customise their favourite reads. Organising your eBooks couldn't be easier using My Shelves: customers can group and arrange books on customised shelves, just like a bookcase. NOOK eReaders can be personalised with preloaded screen savers, or customers can upload personal photos to make NOOK their own. NOOK also offers a complete selection of colourful, high quality accessories to fit your style. Shop 2.5 Million Books and More NOOK wirelessly connects via Wi-Fi to the NOOK Store, one of the world's largest digital bookstores. Whether on their device or shopping online at www.nook.co.uk this autumn, UK customers will find more than 2.5 million digital books including top-selling UK eBooks, new releases, classics and more, favourite UK newspapers and magazines, so customers can enjoy a wide variety of digital content at their fingertips. The NOOK Store also offers a large collection of titles from independent publishers and self-publishing authors through the PubIt™ programme. Customers can easily browse by department or learn what to read next by exploring NOOK Channels™, a pioneering recommendation system for an unparalleled, curated discovery experience targeted to the reader's interests. UK customers can sample any NOOK Book™ for free and download content in seconds. Avid and social readers can swap books with friends through innovative LendMe® technology, which Barnes & Noble pioneered. The NOOK Store also provides top bookseller picks and other recommendations. Customers can browse the NOOK Store online at www.nook.co.uk and on NOOK devices beginning next week and NOOK devices this month. Free NOOK Reading Apps NOOK customers will be able to "Read what they love, anywhere they like™" on NOOK eReaders as well as their favourite mobile and computing devices using free NOOK reading apps, with apps for iOS devices, Android (News - Alert) tablets and smart phones to be made available this autumn, and others to follow in 2013. Purchased NOOK content is always safe and available through NOOK® Cloud. Because NOOK Simple Touch devices use the open, most widely used EPUB format, customers can also borrow eBooks from their local library. In addition to NOOK digital content, readers easily transfer and read personal EPUB and PDF files on your device. Availability For just £79 and £109, the critically acclaimed NOOK Simple Touch and NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight can now be ordered in stores and online through leading participating retailers John Lewis, Argos, Sainsbury's, Dixons, Waitrose, Blackwell's and Foyles. Products will be stocked in these retailers and available to experience first-hand beginning in early October. More information is available on www.nook.co.uk, where customers will soon be able to order NOOKs and purchase digital content. NOOK order deliveries will begin in early October. UK residents wishing to learn more about NOOK can visit www.nook.co.uk, as well as on Facebook.com/nook and Twitter.com/nook_uk.
* GB = 1 billion bytes. Actual formatted capacity may be less About Barnes & Noble, Inc. Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS), the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, operates 689 bookstores in 50 states. Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, also operates 667 college bookstores serving over 4.6 million students and faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States. Barnes & Noble conducts its online business through BN.com (www.bn.com), one of the Web's largest e-commerce sites, which also features more than 3 million titles in its NOOK Bookstore™ (www.bn.com/ebooks). Through Barnes & Noble's NOOK® product offering, customers can buy and read digital books and content on the widest range of platforms, including NOOK devices and the most popular mobile and computing devices using free NOOK apps. Barnes & Noble is proud to be named a J.D. Power and Associated 2012 Customer Service Champion and is only one of 50 U.S. companies so named. Barnes & Noble.com is ranked the number one online retailer in customer satisfaction in the book, music and video category and a Top 10 online retailer overall in customer satisfaction according to ForeSee E-Retail Satisfaction Index (Spring Top 100 Edition). General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via the Internet by visiting the company's corporate website: www.barnesandnobleinc.com. NOOK®, NOOK Tablet™, NOOK Simple Touch™ with GlowLight™, NOOK Simple Touch™, NOOK Color™, Reader's Tablet™, Best-Text™ Technology, VividView™, PagePerfect™, NOOK Store™, NOOK Bookstore™, NOOK Book™, NOOK Newsstand™, NOOK Magazine™, NOOK Newspaper™, NOOK Video™, NOOK Catalog™, NOOK Apps™, FREE NOOK Reading Apps™, NOOK Video Apps™, NOOK Profiles™, NOOK Channels™, My NOOK Today™, NOOK Kids™, NOOK Digital Shop™, NOOK Cloud™, NOOK® for Web, Read In Store™, NOOK Library™, Lifetime Library™ and Read What You Love. Anywhere You Like™ are trademarks of Barnes & Noble, Inc. Other trademarks referenced in this release are the property of their respective owners. Follow Barnes & Noble on Twitter (News - Alert) (www.bn.com/twitter), Facebook (www.facebook.com/barnesandnoble) and YouTube (News - Alert) (www.youtube.com/user/bnstudio). About NOOK® from Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble's NOOK reading and entertainment products make it easy to read what you love, anywhere you like™ with a fun, easy-to-use and immersive digital reading experience. With NOOK, customers gain access to Barnes & Noble's expansive NOOK Store™ of more than 3 million digital titles, and the ability to enjoy content across a wide array of popular devices through free NOOK Reading Apps™ and NOOK Video apps, available at www.nook.com/freenookapps. Barnes & Noble offers NOOK owners Always Free NOOK Support in any of its nearly 700 bookstores. Find NOOK devices in Barnes & Noble stores and online at www.nook.com, as well as leading retailer including Best Buy, Target (News - Alert) and Walmart and many others. NOOK products are also available in the United Kingdom through www.nook.co.uk, as well as leading retailers. For more information on NOOK, follow us on www.twitter.com/nookBN and www.facebook.com/nook. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements (within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended) and information relating to Barnes & Noble that are based on the beliefs of the management of Barnes & Noble as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to the management of Barnes & Noble. When used in this communication, the words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "plan," "will", "coming to" and similar expressions, as they relate to Barnes & Noble or the management of Barnes & Noble, identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the current views of Barnes & Noble with respect to future events, the outcome of which is subject to certain risks, including, among others, the general economic environment and consumer spending patterns, decreased consumer demand for Barnes & Noble's products, low growth or declining sales and net income due to various factors, risk that international expansion will not be successfully achieved or may be achieved later than expected, possible disruptions in Barnes & Noble's computer systems, telephone systems or supply chain, possible risks associated with data privacy, information security and intellectual property, possible work stoppages or increases in labor costs, possible increases in shipping rates or interruptions in shipping service, effects of competition, possible risks that inventory in channels of distribution may be larger than able to be sold, possible risk that returns from consumers or channels of distribution may be greater than estimated, the risk that the expected sales lift from Borders' store closures is not achieved in whole or part, the risk that digital sales growth is less than expectations and the risk that it does not exceed the rate of investment spend, higher-than-anticipated store closing or relocation costs, higher interest rates, the performance of Barnes & Noble's online, digital and other initiatives, the performance and successful integration of acquired businesses, the success of Barnes & Noble's strategic investments, unanticipated increases in merchandise, component or occupancy costs, unanticipated adverse litigation results or effects, product and component shortages, the potential adverse impact on the business resulting from the review of a potential separation of the NOOK digital business, the risk that the transactions contemplated by the partnership with Microsoft (News - Alert) to form Newco, including with respect to any spin-off, split-off or other disposition by Barnes & Noble of its interest in Newco, are not able to be implemented on the terms contemplated or at all, the risk that the transactions do not achieve the expected benefits for the parties including the risk that Newco's applications are not commercially successful or that the expected distribution of those applications is not achieved, the risk that the separation of the NOOK digital and College businesses or any subsequent spin-off, split-off or other disposition by Barnes & Noble of its interest in Newco results in adverse impacts on Company or Newco (including as a result of termination of agreements and other adverse impacts), the potential impact on Barnes & Noble's retail business of the separation, the potential tax consequences for Barnes & Noble and its shareholders of a subsequent spin-off, split-off or other disposition by Barnes & Noble of its interest in Newco, the risk that the domestic and international expansion contemplated by the relationship or otherwise is not successful or is delayed, including the potential delay in distribution of devices and/or digital content, the risk that Newco is not able to perform its obligations under the commercial agreement, including with respect to the development of applications and international expansion, and the consequences thereof, the costs and disruptions arising out of any such separation of the NOOK digital and College businesses, the risk that Barnes & Noble may not recoup its investments in the NOOK digital business as part of any separation transaction, the risks, difficulties, and uncertainties that may result from the separation of businesses that were previously co-mingled including necessary ongoing relationships, and potential for adverse customer impacts and other factors which may be outside of Barnes & Noble's control, including those factors discussed in detail in Item 1A, "Risk Factors," in Barnes & Noble's Annual Report on Form 10-K and Form 10-K/A, and in Barnes & Noble's other filings made hereafter from time to time with the SEC. Our forward looking statements relating to international expansion are also subject to the following risks, among others that may affect the introduction, success and timing of the NOOK e-reader and content in countries outside the United States: we may not be successful in reaching agreements with international companies, the terms of agreements that we reach may not be advantageous to us, our NOOK device may require technological changes to comply with applicable laws, and marketplace acceptance and other companies have already entered the marketplace with products that have achieved some customer acceptance. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results or outcomes may vary materially from those described as anticipated, believed, estimated, expected, intended or planned. Subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to Barnes & Noble or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements in this paragraph. Barnes & Noble undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise after the date of this communication. Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi eid=50420941&lang=en
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