Barnes & Noble and Google are teaming up to make your Nook experience much better.
Google Play is now avaiable on Nook HD tablets, according to Time.
Google’s home for a host of apps and games came to Nook tablets in the form of an update. Nook users in the United States and United Kingdom can browse the app store on their seven-inch Nook HD or nine-inch Nook HD+.
Google Play gives a big app boost to the Nook. Whereas the device previously had about 10,000 apps, the update gives Nooks over 700,000 apps.
The update could also help Barnes & Noble with Nook sales—especially since the holiday season was not kind to the company, according to the Associated Press. Chief Executive Officer William Lynch said research shows a trend in which tablet users are looking for a bit more when they purchase a new device.
“We saw coming off holiday the market moved to multifunction tablets,” said Lynch. “Consumer research showed us the breadth of applications available is really critical.”
According to Lynch talks with Google were previously inconsistent over the past few years. However, now that a deal is finally done, there is new hope for the company’s tablets.
“This addresses the one perceived gap that we had with other tablets virtually overnight,” he explained.
Consumers received an automatic update if their device was connected to Wi-Fi. The Nook now has access to popular features such as Gmail, Google Chrome, YouTube and a vast amount of songs through Google Play Music.
There is also no need to worry about the price of the devices. They will stay the same—the Nook HD usually starts at $199 and the Nook HD+ usually starts at $269. However, for Mothers Day there has been a slight drop in Nook prices. The other forms of the Nook—the Nook Simple Touch and the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight—are mostly e-book readers and did not receive the update.
