There was speculation a week ago that Barnes and Noble were going to discontinue the Nook 4e e-reader. This was due to the product disappearing from the main Nook landing page, and the individual product listing said it was sold out, with no arrival date. The bookseller has confirmed with Good e-Reader that the B& N Nook 4e is officially discontinued.
Barnes and Noble initially sold out of their stock due to the upgrade path for older Nook e-readers that were considered EOL and would no longer be able to access the online bookstore to make new purchases. Lenovo offered a coupon code to people who were affected by this policy shift, which they could use for the Nook Glowlight 4e and the Nook Tablet 9.
Barnes and Noble told me that parts and components were complex to come by to undergo a new production run of the 4e. This is because it is an older e-reader. It came out in early 2022 and featured a 6-inch E INK Carta HD display with a resolution of 1024×758 and 212 PPI. This type of Carta screen and the 212 PPI display are really long in the tooth. All of their other e-readers have a 300 PPI screen, which provides a better reading experience.
Barnes and Noble will only focus on selling, marketing and undergoing new production runes of the Nook Glowlight 4, Nook Glowlight 4 Plus and the Nook Tablet 9, in addition to all accessories. Selling on two e-readers and one tablet helps from a marketing prospective, since developing signage during the upcoming holiday period is going to be easier, in addition to training staff.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
