B&N Nook arriving in time for Christmas after all

After an initial announcement that the Barnes and Noble Nook e-reader was unlikely to arrive in time to fulfill gift orders for Christmas, it appears that B&N got their act together and Santa’s coming with Nooks after all.

After announcing earlier in the week that empty-handed gift-givers would be placated with $100 Barnes and Noble gift cards, something changed and the company announced that only a “small number” of those waiting for Christmas shipments would be receiving the gift cards in lieu of their Nook:

Mary Ellen Keating, a spokeswoman for Barnes & Noble, said the New York-based chain last week expected to issue “a very small number” of online certificates. However, the retailer has now concluded that it will fulfill its obligations for Christmas.

“We’re pleased to tell our customers today that we’re shipping out all our orders in time,” she said.

Barnes and Noble refused to say how many Nooks were shipped for Christmas. New orders are suspended for now, and more Nooks aren’t expected to ship until February 1st, 2010. As James pointed out, Amazon has a whole bunch of Kindles you can just order, and they send them out to you.