Android’s first real e-reader was born today

Never mind that bullshit about the Spring Design “Alex” yesterday. Total patent troll “prior art” move. The Barnes and Noble Nook is real and it’s making me drool.

I’m a Kindle 2 owner and fan. I love how easy it is to read, I love how thin and light it is, I love the free connection to Sprint’s “Now Network” (I wish you could add more quotes around a phrase to increase the sarcasm/attitude/cynicism) . Obviously, I’m also extremely focused on the Android operating system, ecosystem, and lifestyle. So nook really excites me.

I was tempted to rush out my first Android Bakery video podcast to talk about the nook. But I held off.

nook eReader - Android power

There’s no shortage of news about nook right now. I wrote about it on Betanews earlier today, saying that it somehow managed to combine the spirit of two most “walled garden” tech devices (iphone and kindle) to make a new, uber desirable device.

But the thing is, we don’t know where it fits in the Android family. I contacted B&N this afternoon to see if they could get me in touch with a developer who could explain, just how much of an Android device the nook really is, but I haven’t heard back from them yet. That’s how excited I am. I’m posting a story before I even have any useful info. Just check back, I’ll have something good.

This rumor blows my mind!

Gizmodo got quite a scoop/rumor that the Barnes and Noble e-book reader will run Android?!!

Like that 90′s X Files T-shirt used to say…I want to believe.

But I’m not the type of person to say that something is going to happen because it’s extremely plausible. And believe me, it IS plausible. The Barnes and Noble e-reader made by Plastic Logic, hooked up to the AT&T wireless network, equipped with the B&N e-book store is debuting in just a couple of weeks and it looks like it’s going to be the Kindle’s best competition so far. You throw Android in that mess and give it the ability to install third party apps, you break down the device’s insular functionality that has kept many customers from jumping on board the e-reader train (i.e. “why would I buy a device that only does one thing?”)

I talked to Ericsson a couple of weeks ago, and they see a ton of potential in the e-reader market. They released their always-on wireless SoC for embedded systems and really emphasized its utility in the form factor. It seems like everybody in the industry has got e-book fever. Hell, I have been praying to the almighty Gods of capitalism for E Ink Co. to go IPO, but it’s still not a publicly traded company. (Those guys make the Vizplex imaging film used in literally EVERY e-reader product and I want in!)

But the non-early adopting, average run-of-the-mill consumer still hasn’t taken note of the technology, and they probably won’t for a couple of years.

This is another one of those reasons why this rumor clicks…it’s taking two tech industry hot topics and mashing them together into something that makes a lot of sense.

But the thing is, the Android experience would be nonexistent in the current generation of e-readers. I mean, shit….I have my doubts about the Archos PMP that debuted running Android today. But on an E Ink screen? Come on, those screens take like 2 seconds to refresh…there’s really no way yet to have animation on them. The “Android Experience” would consist of the framework for a menu screen and little else. Yes, it’s an open source platform suitable for embedded systems, but I have serious doubts about Android making an upfront appearance on an e-reader, even though the interoperability with the myriad Google services is a hugely tantalizing and exciting proposition (think about geotagged e-books…holy fuck.)

I’d also hate to have to ditch my Kindle 2 after only 6 months.