The Barnes and Noble Nook Tablet 9 by Lenovo is a digital reading device sold on the B&N website. It has the Nook Hub, an online portal to fetch firmware updates and provide software updates for the Nook App and related services. The Nook app is preinstalled on the device and not downloaded from Google Play. The Nook tablet 9 is based on the Lenovo M9, cheaper than the Nook. Last week, it came to light that owners of the Lenovo M9 could no longer download the Nook app from Google play. Why is this the case? New information has come to light on the exact reason why.
The Nook Tablet 9 and the Lenovo M9 are based on the same hardware and have the same model number. Barnes and Noble provided the following statement to Good e-Reader: “We did not intentionally block NOOK from the Lenovo M9 tablet to corner the market or force customers to buy our version. We needed to find a way to allow customers to buy content on their devices without absorbing the Google Play commission structure. And so, on the NOOK tablet, has the “NOOK Hub,” which bypasses Google Play.”
The spokesman went on to say. “Unfortunately, the Lenovo retail version carries the same model number as ours, which created an “all or nothing” situation. I.e., Google Play is blocking any tablet with that model number from downloading the NOOK App. We regret this situation and will work with Lenovo to solve it for future tablets.”
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.