B&N Making Nook Into a Tablet

It's an e-reader, a tablet, and maybe a dessert topping.

When is an e-reader a tablet? When Barnes & Noble decides it can become one... they are letting developers submit applications for their color Nook e-reader, the Android-based device that hackers had already been transforming into a full-fledged tablet for some time.

Sure, it's not the speediest Android tablet out there, not by a long shot. But $249 for a 7-inch Android tablet is not a bad price at all. I think B&N has heard the rumors about Amazon developing an Android tablet, and decided to beat them to the punch.

So the ebook reader and the game playing tablet markets are beginning to collide in more interesting ways.  I think this is a good move for B&N, if they go for it whole-heartedly. Aside from Apple, nobody's a clear winner in the tablet market yet. Go on, sell a zillion Nooks! It'll be fun to see how Amazon responds.