Staples announced today that the NOOK Color will land in its US retail stores starting May 1st. Not coincidentally, the Android-powered eReader will arrive just in time for the big gift-giving spring holidays of Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Accordingly, the eReader will get the royal treatment at Staples. The office supply superstore will launch the NOOK Color in all its retail stores, will provide a live demonstration unit at each store for customers to try, and will offer free shipping for those ordering online.
The NOOK Color is an interesting device. It is an eReader at its core, but its Android operating system expands the functionality of the device. The NOOK Color can even be rooted and flashed to support Android Honeycomb 3.0. Granted, the eReader is a bit underpowered for the tablet OS, but the fact that it can be flashed to Honeycomb is a testament to the hackability of the device. The folks from Unrevoked agreed and gave the NOOK Color a favorable rating for its ability to be rooted and modified. Barnes and Noble is also pushing the NOOK beyond its reading roots and recently released an updated set of application development tools for the Android device.
You can read more about Staples and its launch of Barnes and Noble’s eReader in the press release after the break.