Nook tablets now come with Pinterest, Facebook preinstalled

Nook devices now come with a host of social media apps out of the box in an attempt to stand out against competition from Amazon.

Just like Amazon's range of Kindle tablets and eReaders, Nook devices run a 'forked' version of Android and, though well-built specification-rich products just like their closest direct competitor's offerings, Nooks were developed to help Barnes & Noble (Nook's parent company) to sell digital content -- be it books, films or music -- to consumers.

The addition of a dedicated Pinterest app should not only delight potential owners, the announcement highlights that Nook tablets have enough users and a big enough market share for companies to want to make supporting apps.

'Pinterest has long been one of our most requested apps and we are thrilled to bring it to NOOK, along with the Twitter and Facebook for NOOK apps,' said Claudia Romanini, Vice President of NOOK Apps, NOOK Media LLC. 'Our goal is to bring NOOK users the very best in social media and these apps will bring to life the rich sharing experiences that Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter offer.'

And by targeting social media, NOOK is demonstrating a keen understanding of tablet use. Their lightweight build and 7- or 9-inch display form factor make them the most social of computing devices -- they are designed as much for sharing as for consuming multimedia content.

As well as being bundled on new devices, the dedicated apps are also available in the Nook Store for download for existing owners, as are a range of other social media apps including Flipboard and Stumble Upon.

Earlier this month, NOOK also launched a completely overhauled digital self-publishing platform called NOOKpress, to help aspiring writers create, edit, publish and monetize eBooks. The company claims that 25 percent of monthly eBook sales are self-published titles and that 30 percent of NOOK users purchase self-published content on a regular basis.

The NOOK range of tablets currently consists of the 7-inch NOOK HD, which retails for $199 with 8GB of internal storage ($229 for 16GB), and the NOOK HD+, which offers a full-HD 9-inch screen and 16GB of internal storage for $269. In comparison Amazon's Kindle Fire HD offers a 7-inch HD display and 16GB of internal storage for $199. However, that price rises to $214 if a potential owner wants a browsing experience that isn't cluttered with Amazon advertising -- advertising that even appears in the lock screen. Its 8.9-inch version is more expensive than the NOOK equivalent ($284 for ad-free browsing, versus $269 for the NOOK) but Amazon's big pull with consumers is that it has the largest selection of digital content on the internet -- not even Google and Apple can compete, at the moment at least.