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Microsoft: Barnes & Noble Spikes; Cooking Up A Windows Nook?

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As you likely know by now, late this afternoon, Microsoft plans to hold an event so far undisclosed place in Los Angeles to unveil, well, something major. Speculation has been that the company is going to launch a Microsoft-branded tablet. But a TechCrunch piece over the weekend has shifted the focus of the discussion away from the potential for a straight-forward Apple iPad rival into the realm of  e-books.

The TechCrunch piece asserts that what Microsoft will announce is a tablet developed with Barnes & Noble that will include Xbox Live streaming capability.

The story says that most of the other speculation on what the device will be has been "somewhat right but mostly wrong." The piece contends that what will be announced will be the fruits of the company's joint venture with Barnes & Noble. Back in April, the two companies announced a strategic partnership to boost the book retailer's Nook e-reader unit, with Microsoft investing $300 million in the venture.

Here are the facts so far:

  • Microsoft sent out invitations to the event on Thursday, with zero details, other than the fact that they will make a major announcement Monday in Los Angeles.
  • The decision to do this in L.A. is irritating the entire tech press corps, basically none of whom are based in L.A. Normally, Microsoft would be much more likely to do a launch in San Francisco, New York or Seattle.
  • Ergo, the announcement almost certainly has to involve a device with entertainment capability. Why the hell else would they be making us fly to L.A. this morning?
  • Same goes for the super-secret nature of the location. If they were going to announce this in, say, a hotel meeting room, there would be no reason to keep it a secret. But if you were going to hold it at some iconic entertainment industry location - a movie studio, say - you might keep it quiet as long as possible.
  • There is no question that Microsoft is pushing hard into the tablet space with Windows 8. But the software is still in beta; it would be a little surprising if this were simply the launch of a Windows 8 tablet.

I'll be flying south in a few hours, and will live blog the proceedings from location TBA.

Meanwhile, the idea that Microsoft might be announcing some sort of glorified Nook, Microsoft's answer to the Amazon Kindle Fire, but with games and streaming video, has given a lift to Barnes & Noble shares: the stock is up $1.49, or 9.6%, to $17.09.

Update: Dow Jones is reporting that a source familiar with the situation says reports that Barnes & Noble is involved with today's event are "not true at all."