Rumor has it the nook is getting some siblings. Gizmodo is reporting on buzz that there’s a nook “lite” with wifi only, plus a nook 2, headed our way this year. In addition, supposedly an update for the famous original nook will include a web browser.

It’s great to see that B&N isn’t resting on their laurels here. A web browser helps in a few ways. If it’s crappy, it at least matches the Kindle 2 on another feature, and if it’s better than it gives the nook a fighting chance to add more innovative reading experiences. Don’t forget, the nook is android-based, so even a web browser with a slow refresh rate could be halfway decent on it. It would open up options to look items up in Google right from a book, and possibly even allow B&N to expand the web gateway built in to the nook to do more than just dump users into the B&N store. And if the similar looking Alex Reader hits Borders this summer, having a web browser gives B&N the chance to be a bit competitive with the nook’s evil twin.

As far as a wifi nook lite and a nook 2, both of those strategically make sense. A nook 2 by the end of the year fits with roughly a yearly refresh rate, plus it will hopefully incorporate the lessons B&N learned from the first go-round. A nook lite at a lower price puts more nooks into people’s hands, also very necessary.

B&N’s biggest competition is that they were not first to market with a major ebook reader. Being beaten by Amazon (and to a much lesser extent Sony), means many customers already have libraries in competing bookstores. In fact, I was in a Barnes and Noble today and chatted with the salesman assigned to the nook display. He asked me if I was interested in the nook, and I explained that while I’ve dabbled with many different ebook readers, the majority of my books are through Amazon. His answer: “Yea, I hear that a lot. It’s a problem, because people can’t read their books on any device.”

Hopefully a few new devices will convince people it’s worth switching!

Via Gizmodo