Here’s the secret to Amazon’s, B&N’s tablet strategy

It’s too bad other tablet-makers aren’t taking a cue from Barnes & Noble as well as from Amazon and its Kindle Fire tablet: Simplicity and reasonable prices, not specs, will win the tablet wars.

Both Amazon’s and Barnes & Noble’s tablets share this idea of simplicity and relatively low cost, with each priced far below the typical $499 entry point for a larger tablet. But neither is meant to handle some of the heavier computer-like tasks of their bigger brethren. While some people have used an iPad or Android tablet to replace some — or in a few extreme cases, all — of the functions of a laptop, neither the Fire nor the Nook are computer replacements. And that allows both companies to focus on providing a great experience for the functions that consumers most want: reading digital media, browsing the web, consuming video content, checking email and running a handful of popular applications found in curated application stores.