[jbigelow]

I've got an original Nook that I like, the eInk is great for readability, I was initially hesitant as to what to think about the Nook Color since it loses the readability advantage over traditional tablets. So now that B&N is opening up the Nook Color with an SDK I'm a little more excited about it. But what I'm really curious about is, does B&N make a profit off the hardware sales or is it a loss leader for ebook sales (is it the razor or the blade)? If B&N makes money on the hardware it will have a nice new revenue stream as ebooks gradually supplant traditional print books, but if they take a loss on each unit hoping to recoup via ebook sales the platform may not have a long lifespan if they discontinue it due to everybody rooting the thing for a cheap Honeycomb tablet with no more vendor lock in.

[orangecat]

I don't think they're taking a loss on it. They could easily have put up a few speedbumps to hacking it if they cared, like not unconditionally booting off the SD card.