Barnes & Noble and Microsoft yesterday announced a new partnership in the e-reading space that will see the Nook and Barnes & Noble’s college textbook business spun off into a new subsidiary called Newco (until they come up with a new name). In an interview with Fortune, Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch shed a bit more light on what the future holds for the Nook.
One new feature coming to future Nook devices will be an embedded NFC chip. Barnes & Noble will also work with publishers to have them embed NFC chips in books. “And if you had your Nook, you can walk up to any of our pictures, any our aisles, any of our bestseller lists, and just touch the book, and get information on that physical book on your Nook and have some frictionless purchase experience,” explains Lynch.
Asked whether an NFC-equipped Nook would be out this year, Lynch would only say, “Maybe.”
Read more: Fortune