The Nook is the biggest rival to Amazon"s Kindle eReader. In fact there are reports that the Nook is currently outselling the Kindle. Now there are reports that there may be a new version of the high end Nook Color launching as soon as this month. Digitimes reports via unnamed sources that the Nook Color 2 is being assembled by two manufacturers, Inventec and Pegatron. TPK Holding is making the touch screen component for the Nook Color 2. The report claims that two to three million units of the new version of the eReader could be shipped out by the end of the year.
The current Nook Color is a 7 inch touch screen eReader with WiFi support that runs on a highly modified version of Google"s Android operating system. It has an 800 Mhz processor with 8 GB of storage. It first launched in November 2010 for a price of $249. The device also has its own apps with games, news and other features and Barnes and Noble has a program that allows app developers to make their own Nook Color compatible apps. It has support for email and web browsing as well. Some Android hackers have created ways for the Nook Color to run most Android-based apps.
Digitimes"s article gave little info on the tech specs of the rumored Nook Color 2. There"s no word if it will be running Android again but it will still be able to play games and it will still have email and web browsing features. Last week Barnes and Noble announced that its overall Nook business had a 140 percent increase in revenues in the company"s last fiscal quarter.