Barnes & Noble to add NFC to Nook e-reader
03 May, 2012
category: NFC
Barnes and Noble is planning to embed NFC technology in future Nook e-readers.
In an interview with Fortune, B&N CEO William Lynch related his vision of Nook users shopping for books by tapping their e-readers against an NFC chip embedded in the book’s cover, giving them instant access to reviews and other information – much like what publisher Atria piloted last October.
“We can work with the publishers so they would ship a copy of each hardcover with an NFC chip embedded with all the editorial reviews they can get on BN.com,” Lynch told Fortune. “And if you had your Nook, you can walk up to any of our pictures, any our aisles, any of our bestseller lists, and just touch the book, and get information on that physical book on your Nook and have some frictionless purchase experience.”
Lynch’s announcement comes on the heels of Microsoft investing $605 million over five years in B&N’s Nook business, prompting speculation that the new Nook may run on Windows 8.
“We haven’t announced anything specifically, but imagine an integration where an information worker, student, author, consumer, creates something in Office and has it immediately published for sale through the Nook book store,” said Lynch of a potential Windows 8 device. “It starts to open a lot of exciting possibilities.”
According to Fortune, NFC-enabled Nooks could start appearing as early as this year.
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