[markbot]

the obvious buyer/partner for the nook is google. google is about to do their own tablets (they are buying motorola mobility). they could make the nook their 7" tablet or a flavor of their 7" tablet lineup. they could have a 10" tablet which they could integrate with content from B&N. B&N could be a show room for some google tablet products. google has their own online book store which they could cobrand with B&N. that makes some sense. google could integrate the nook into its overall mobile strategy better and they have deeper pockets to compete. google is a tech company, B&N isn't. but B&N has that relationship with the customer and a brand that is valuable and physical stores. it could become a fruitful relationship. tablets are strategically important for google so they may be able to pay the most for the nook.

but google will be thinking that they could buy the nook for $700M+, or whatever the price is, or they could just try to build that business themselves or integrate it with the overall tablet strategy. u can buy a lot of advertising with $700M.

those are some thoughts.