The deal will also tap Barnes & Noble’s college business, where students and educators can, today, rent or purchase digital e-books via Barnes & Noble’s “Nook Study” software.

( MORE: Hands On with Barnes & Noble’s New Nook Simple Touch E-Reader with GlowLight) Windows 8 still has no official release date, but word is we’ll see it by October. There’s nothing about device specifics in the press announcement, but you can bet both companies are thinking about the upcoming wave of Windows 8-based tablets wielding Microsoft’s tile-style “Metro” interface. In fact that’s just what the relationship will yield up front: a Nook app for Windows 8, which Microsoft says will bring Barnes & Noble’s digital catalogue to Windows customers around the world. Microsoft’s investment will give it a minority stake of 17.6% in the new subsidiary, while Barnes & Noble will command 82.4%.Īt first blush, it’s as if Microsoft were paying Barnes & Noble a ridiculous amount of money to develop a Windows 8 version of Nook. The “strategic” venture, into which Microsoft says it will pour $300 million, is designed to “accelerate the transition to e-reading,” as well as symbolically lay to rest a patent dispute that’s been ongoing since March 2011. Follow and Barnes & Noble are joining hands to form a new Barnes & Noble subsidiary that’ll be dubbed “Newco” (get it?) until someone comes up with a better name.

Barnes and noble nook reader for pc