Barnes & Noble takes Nook tablet to UK

Barnes & Noble on Monday announced it will release Nook tablets in Britain in the first move by the world's largest book seller to sell the e-readers outside the United States.

Nook tablets and digital content will become available in October at a new online shop at nook.co.uk.

"We are proud to be able to offer our top-rated line of Nook reading devices and our award-winning digital bookstore to the discerning and highly educated consumers in the UK," said Barnes & Noble chief executive William Lynch.

"We're confident our award-winning technology, combined with our expansive content - including books, children's books, magazines, apps, movies and more - will bring UK customers the option they've been waiting for."

Barnes & Noble said that it would start by focusing on e-reader offerings including digital books, magazines and newspapers. Pricing details were not disclosed.

The company last week cut prices in the US to $179 and $199 for a Nook Tablet with 16 gigabytes or 32 gigabyte of memory, respectively.

The price of a Nook Color was trimmed to $149.

The moves came as people snapped up recently-launched Google Nexus 7 tablets and rumors heightened that Apple next month will release a "mini" iPad with a seven-inch screen that would go head-to-head with Nook, Kindle and Nexus 7.