Barnes & Noble may have doubled its tablet shipments in the fall. Having shipped over 800,000 Nook Color devices in the summer, the company was said by part suppliers speaking to Digitimes late Thursday to be delivering a combination of 1.5 million Android-based devices during the fall. About 1.1 million of those would be the new Nook Tablet, with the remaining 400,000 being the price-discounted Color.
Long-term goals would have it shipping four million to 4.1 million Nook Tablets over all 2012, though, suggesting the company might be cautious about its expectations.
The figures would still put it well behind the possible five million Kindle Fires delivered just in fall 2011, but the 1.5 million Nooks in 2011 could still see Barnes & Noble eclipse even some of the major Android tablet designers. Its lower $249 and $199 prices, even as it keeps some true tablet features, has helped it overcome the resistance to non-iPad slates.
