Nook could, possibly, become a business model on its own. It has merit as a stand-alone product and general audience will be willing to shell out $250 for a tab

Nook could, possibly, become a business model on its own. It has merit as a stand-alone product and general audience will be willing to shell out $250 for a tablet. If trend catches on, economy of scale will kick in and B&N may start making decent profit on it. On the other hand, you can't exactly market a barcode scanner to the general audience...