Barnes & Noble rolls out Android app SDK for Nook Color

Bookseller chain Barnes & Noble introduced a software development kit and related tools enabling programmers to deploy and market applications via the company's Android-powered Nook Color e-reader. Barnes & Noble will offer both paid and free Android apps for Nook Color, with a focus on reader-centric solutions that "enrich and extend the reading experience."

The company will offer Developer Mode services including Android Debugging Bridge access, public and private interaction with other developers and Nook App Developer technical  experts, and early looks at development tools, APIs, resources and related services.

Barnes & Noble will offer developers the now-standard 70/30 revenue split and will require publisher partners to submit to a review process that follows its existing content acceptance policies "to ensure the content is appropriate for the Barnes & Noble customer."

Barnes & Noble vows to showcase and merchandise Android apps across the Nook Color device platform as well as on its online site and over 1,300 retail locations across the U.S. The bookseller also promises a "major Nook Color firmware update" later this spring, touting the addition of email and other requested features.

Barnes & Noble first added Android-based games and a basic web browser to the Nook in April 2010. The move to allow third-party developers to create and merchandise Nook Color apps follows on the heels of rival Amazon.com introducing its Amazon Appstore for Android, which offers roughly 3,800 applications optimized for devices running Android 1.6 and above.

For more:
- read this Nook Developer Blog entry

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