NOOK 3 To Be Announced On May 24th?

B&N is not giving up on the e-reader market just yet. Why should it with all the success it has had with NOOK Color. The company has suggested that it will bring a new product to the market. Considering that NOOK Color is already doing great as it is, this could be a new e-ink NOOK. As reported on the Wall Street Journal, B&N will announce a new NOOK on May 24th:

Barnes & Noble spokeswoman Mary Ellen Keating declined to comment beyond the 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which contained one sentence of text to comply with Regulation FD fair disclosure rules, except to confirm the meeting took place in New York City. The filing says simply that the company, in the meeting, “indicated it expects to make an announcement on May 24, 2011, regarding the launch of a new eReader device.”

We don’t have much information about the kind of product B&N intends to announce at this date. The company already has a huge presence in the budget-tablet market segment. It could potentially go for broke and bring a fully fledged iPad competitor to the market. CNET suggests that the new NOOK will be an e-ink model. That makes sense considering that Amazon is running away with it all by dropping Kindle prices.

For B&N to solidify its position as the 2nd dedicated e-reader company, it needs to fight in multiple fronts. Adding an affordable (under $100) and a more sophisticated e-ink reader to the NOOK family could boost the company’s current momentum. It will be interesting to see whether Amazon will respond to this move with an announcement on Kindle 4.

What do you say? Which e-reader are you excited to see the most? Kindle 4 or Nook 3?