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Forked yeah!
If you're the owner of a Nook HD or HD+, get ready to enjoy all the Android apps. Barnes & Noble announced today that the Nook HD tablet line will get access to the Google Play store. That gives anyone holding one access to 700,000-plus apps, not to mention the Google Play music, book and video library. Goodbye forked Android walled garden.
The update also gives Nook tablet owners direct access to their Google accounts with built in Gmail, YouTube, Chrome and Google Maps apps.
"By adding Google Play to NOOK HD and NOOK HD+, we are offering our customers even more great entertainment on our award-winning tablets," company CEO William Lynch said in a statement,
It also expands the appeal of the Nook HD and HD+ to make them, in effect, Android tablets with some impressive features. The best of them is probably Nook Profiles. Every family member can have individual accounts, complete with their own apps and books. It includes a children's account so you can make sure little Susie isn't reading your copy of Fifty Shades of Grey.
This is a smart move for Barnes & Noble. The company has hit a rough patch with Nook sales down nearly 26-percent in the third quarter of 2013 compared to the same time the previous year, and opening up the device could expand its appeal beyond traditional Barnes & Noble customers.
An over-the-air update of the Nook HD OS will start rolling out now. But if you're too impatient to wait, Barnes & Noble will show you how to side-load the update on their support page.
