Barnes & Noble's Marriage of Necessity With Microsoft - Businessweek

I suspect it's a pretty safe bet that NOOK Color++ will be Windows RT-based and will default to Bing for Web searches, maps, etc.; I also expect it will be aggressively priced, with interesting implications for other Windows 8/RT tablet vendors

"Meanwhile Microsoft has lagged badly behind Apple (AAPL) and Amazon in tablets, despite introducing a way-ahead-of-its-time Tablet PC operating system in 2001. It has also flailed in e-readers, which is ironic, because it was talking about digital reading as early as 2001 and unsuccessfully trying to set a software standard for the industry. Microsoft exec Andy Lees argues that it’s still early. “There’s going to be a lot of innovation over the next few years,” he said. “Less than five percent of books are digital.”
The companies didn’t say anything about new products, other than that NewCo will develop a Nook app for Microsoft’s new Windows 8 operating system. But it’s reasonable to assume that future Nooks will now tilt toward Microsoft’s platforms. Upcoming versions of the Nook could operate on Windows Mobile [sic] (as opposed to Android, which they currently run), giving Microsoft a foothold in the tablet market. They could also link to Microsoft’s digital media services, utilize Microsoft’s speech recognition technology, and who knows, even one day interoperate with the Xbox in the living room."

Barnes & Noble's Marriage of Necessity With Microsoft - Businessweek