Barnes & Noble Nook e-Reader Now Free With New York Times Subscription

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The iPad is still king of the hill when it comes to tablet computers. As such, competitors try to bank their success on content. It seems Barnes & Noble has found the sweet spot with publisher deals, offering free e-readers and cheap tablets with subscriptions.

Barnes & Noble is hard pressed to compete against Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet and Kindle line of ebook readers. While Amazon is focusing on selling content to recoup its investment in the Kindle Fire, Barnes & Noble is going the partnership route. With Barnes & Noble’s biggest promotion to date, the company will offer discounts and subsidies on e-readers and tablets, along with annual subscriptions to popular publications.

From today until March 9, a one year subscription to People magazine comes with a 7-inch color Nook Tablet for $199 (discounted from $249). A subscription to the magazine costs $9.99 per month.

Meanwhile, a $19.99 monthly subscription to the New York Times will come with a Nook Color for $99, or a Nook Simple Touch for free.

Of course, the total cost of subscription is more expensive than the device in the long run. The People subscription costs $119.88 in a year and New York Times totals $239.88 annually. But, you do get the magazine/newspaper subscription and the device, and you don’t even have to shell out money in one go. The NY  Times subscription also gives users unfettered access to the NYTimes.com paywall.

But apart from the promotion, Barnes & Noble actually has plans to spin off its Nook business, and focus on its core business of book/magazine retail, instead. However, B&N maintains that they will still have a “very symbiotic relationship” with Nook. The company’s subsidized offer is meant to showcase the Nook Newsstand. Now the question is whether other tablet makers, like Amazon, will also offer free or discounted tablets along with magazine subscriptions. Amazon is already subsidizing the cost of each tablet made. Why not share the cost with publishers?