Microsoft and Barnes & Noble have just experienced a change in the dynamics of their working relationship, right after allowing the Nook manufacturer to stop any more work on e-reading apps for Windows. This is done in favor of something which is known as the Microsoft Consumer Reader. In a regulatory filing that was published this week, Nook Media touted that they “would be permitted to discontinue distributing the Nook Windows app [and] cease efforts with respect to a Windows phone app.”
Surely when something that is taken away or halted, there must be another to take its place. Nature, after all, abhors a vacuum, and it does seem as though Nook Media has a plan. They will “cooperate in good faith with Microsoft to transition users to the Microsoft Consumer Reader.” There were no further details provided as to what the Microsoft Consumer Reader is all about, but it did take note that portions of the filing were redacted simply because of confidential information. Hopefully additional details will be revealed in due time.
It does seem as though the Microsoft Consumer Reader will not end up as a physical e-reader in the same vein as that of the Nook or Kindle, but rather, it could be an app instead.