The Barnes & Noble Nook (styled nook or NOOK) is a brand of e-readers developed by American book retailer Barnes & Noble, based on the Android platform. The original device was announced in the United States in October 2009, and was released the next month. The original Nook was capable of Wi-Fi and AT&T 3G wireless connectivity and had a six-inch E-paper display, and a separate, smaller color touchscreen that serves as the primary input device. A Wi-Fi-only model of the original design was released in June 2010. The original line of Nooks was followed in November 2010 by a color LCD device called the Nook Color, in June 2011 by a second-generation E-paper device marketed as the Nook Simple Touch, and in November 2011 and February 2012 by the 16 and 8 GB versions, respectively, of the Wi-Fi only Nook Tablet. On April 30, 2012, Barnes & Noble entered into a partnership with Microsoft that will spin off the Nook and college businesses into a subsidiary; the Nook business became a separate company after a June 25, 2014 announcement. On August 28, 2012, Barnes and Noble announced partnerships with retailers in the UK, which began offering the Nook digital products to people in October 2012. In December 2014, B&N purchased the Microsoft shares of Nook, ending the partnership between the companies.To encourage visiting the B&N stores, a person can read any Nook Store book for one hour once per day while connected to Wi-Fi with a Nook device.