Barnes & Noble today expanded its portfolio of NOOK devices with the introduction of NOOK Tablet ? with 8GB of memory, available for $199.

NOOK Tablet - 8GB version offers reading and mobile entertainment enthusiasts another option in the NOOK family of devices. In addition, the company lowered the price of its NOOK Color, now available for $169.

The newest member of the NOOK Tablet family offers the features of top-selling NOOK Tablet - 16GB, but with 8GB of on-board memory, 512MB of RAM and a lower cost of just $199.

The device is powered by an 1GHz dual-core processor for streaming video and Web browsing, it offers a battery life of 11.5 hours of reading time or nine hours of video viewing, it comes with an on-board storage plus microSD memory expansion and a 7-inch VividView display for viewing content, with 16 million colors.

Users have access to movies, TV shows and music from services including Netflix, Hulu Plus, Flixster, Pandora, Rhapsody, Grooveshark, MOG and more. The device is also compatible with NOOK Apps, and ofcourse offers access to Barnes & Noble's digital book library.

Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet and Amazon's Kindle Fire launched around the same time last year. Although both devices are low-cost, 7-inch Android-based tablets with simplified software, the Kindle Fire seems to be winning the war. A recent report by iSuppli put Amazon in second place in the tablet market behind Apple, while Barnes & Noble placed fourth, trailing Samsung.

NOOK Tablet - 8GB version is available for purchase today for $199 at www.nook.com and in Barnes & Noble stores, and will be available in retailers including Best Buy, Target and Walmart in the coming weeks.