Nook Partnership Gives Samsung Access to Targeted User in Slowing Tablet Market

Samsung’s double-digit growth in an overall slowdown in tablet sales in 2014 is due largely to “an opportunity presented for more specialized devices,” said Samsung Electronics America President Tim Baxter at the launch of the 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook at Barnes & Noble’s Union Square store in New York Wednesday. Samsung and Barnes & Noble are billing the Galaxy Tab 4 Nook as a “best of both worlds” tablet, combining B&N’s content and reading experience with Samsung’s video, apps and web-browsing capability. The $179 device (including $20 rebate) carries the same suggested retail price as the vanilla Galaxy Tab 4 that Samsung sells at Best Buy and other retailers.

On whether the device would be sold through other retailers later, a Nook spokeswoman told us only, “As of right now the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook is available, beginning today, at all 660-plus Barnes & Noble stores and online at bn.com and nook.com. It will also be available at select Barnes & Noble college stores."

B&N CEO Michael Huseby told us the retailer will be “sunsetting” the Nook HD and HD+ tablets it launched during the 2012 holiday season and those models, plus the Simple Touch reader, were no longer available for purchase Wednesday at bn.com. Target had the HD+ in stock for $179. Amazon was selling an 8 GB 7-inch Nook HD for $119, down from $179. Walmart showed the 32 GB 9-inch Nook HD as a “special buy” for $179.

Huseby said B&N will continue to support earlier Nook models. “They're great devices, but we're not going to continue to make more of those,” he said, and “we're pretty much sold through.”

B&N will continue to sell its $119 Nook GlowLight black-and-white E Ink reader, however. GlowLight pricing “pulses with promotions,” and B&N will look at GlowLight pricing in relation to demand in the market during the holiday season, he said. There’s still a “core of avid readers” who support E Ink readers, he said, “but more and more users of devices -- e-readers included -- are looking for a full-featured device where they can surf the Web, take photos, video chat … and [Galaxy Tab 4 Nook] allows you to do that.” Huseby cited front and rear cameras and GPS functionality as features B&N’s customers “really wanted that weren’t included in a couple of the other tablets.”

Commenting on B&N’s decision to partner with Samsung, Huseby said “Samsung has bucked the trend” of flattening tablet sales. Samsung prices are “affordable for the value they put out,” he said. “They've selected us as much as we've selected them,” he said. Huseby said the joint kick-off was an example of how the two companies will promote the dual-branded tablet. He declined to discuss specific marketing plans in the works but said there will be a marketing push across various media during the holiday season.

There’s no exclusivity to the deal on either side, Huseby said, but B&N has no plans now to announce “anything else with another tablet maker,” Huseby said. The retailer is pleased with the Samsung partnership, “and we want to see how this goes,” he said.

Alanna Cotton, Samsung vice president-channel marketing for tablets and wearables, told us Samsung doesn’t discuss its plans, when we asked how else Samsung might leverage the Galaxy Tab in targeted partnerships. But she cited the company’s history of “strong alliances.” As to future co-branded products with B&N, Samsung is “open” to where the partnership with B&N leads, Cotton said, but she wouldn’t provide a product road map.

To sweeten the Galaxy Nook deal, a Galaxy Tab 4 Nook purchase will include $200 in select content from the Nook store that can be used for books, TV shows and magazines. Three e-books included in the promotion are Freakonomics, The Wanderer and I Am Number Four, according to the news release. Video content from the package includes one episode each from TV shows including Veep, Hannibal and Orphan Black. A free two-week magazine trial includes subscriptions for 12 titles including Sports Illustrated and Cosmopolitan. Buyers will also get a $5 credit for use in the Nook store, the companies said.