Tech Report – NOOK Simple Touch™ with GlowLight™

Just one day after the tech world was abuzz over the anti-trust lawsuit filed against Apple and several book publishers, Barnes & Noble announced the NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight, the latest in the growing NOOK family of e-readers and tablets.

While Amazon has been cast as both the hero and the villain in the battle over e-book pricing, Barnes & Noble has been careful to stay above the fray. While it certainly has a vested interest in keeping the print book market healthy and viable, it has also been investing heavily in its digital future, making sure that it doesn’t cede the e-book market to Amazon without a fight.

The NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight, which has been a year in development, adds to the already impressive collection of NOOK mobile devices, which includes the NOOK Tablet, the NOOK Color, and the NOOK Simple Touch. As the name implies, the NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight enhances the existing NOOK Simple Touch by adding a soft glow feature, which is optimized for bedtime and other low-light reading. The result is an advanced E Ink reader usable in any conditions from bright sunlight to complete darkness.

“To date, readers have had to compromise: either buying black-and-white E Ink reading devices to optimize their outdoor reading or color LCD devices to be able to read at night in bed with the light off,” said William J. Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble. “NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight is like two Readers in one.”

While the NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight is slightly lighter than its predecessor at just under 7 ounces, there are very few other new features to talk about. Instead, Barnes & Noble is relying on the appeal of the night-light feature to generate additional consumer demand. In fact, the press release that accompanied the announcement of the new NOOK is packed with stats about how many people like to read in bed and how many relationships are suffering as a result. If nothing else, the Simple Touch with GlowLight might end up saving a few marriages!

The NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight will sell for $139 and is already available for pre-order. It will be available in stores for May 1 – just in time for Mother’s Day.