Barnes & Noble bets on the Nook
Barnes & Noble eReader, the Nook
If you're the type of early Christmas shopper who bought a Kindle last week, I hope you kept the receipt, because a newer, equally affordable option is about to hit shelves.
Barnes & Noble (BKS) CEO Steve Riggio on Tuesday took the stage before hundreds of authors, agents, publishers and pundits to debut the company's electronic reader, the Nook.
The Nook will sell for just $259, a steep discount from competitors like the Sony (SNE) Reader and the iRex DR800SG , which both retail for $399. The price suggests Barnes & Noble is going straight for Amazon (AMZN), which recently lowered the Kindle's price to $259.
The Nook uses the same screen technology that powers Amazon's Kindle, but adds an iPhone-like color touchscreen below for easy navigation. Readers have access to 3G wireless on AT&T's broadband network. Â The reader holds up to 1,500 books (like its major competitor), but an expandable memory slot allows readers to add up to 17,500 more. "You're getting a lot of eReader for the money," says Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst with Forrester Research.
Another novel experiment: lending. Barnes & Noble lets readers share titles with friends on any platform in the Barnes & Noble ecosystem. So you like the "Tipping Point?" Buy it for your Nook and lend it to your sister to read on her Barnes & Noble iPhone application. (She'd better not procrastinate; she has 14 days before it disappears.)
Barnes & Noble will turn its massive retail presence into a competitive advantage. Over the next few weeks, the bookstore chain will roll out Nook displays in its 700 stores and 600 college bookstores. Through complimentary Wi-Fi connections in all the stores, readers will be able to browse eBooks on their readers just as they might have always browsed the shelves.
The eBook market is tiny, but its growth has been explosive this year. eBook accounts for less than 2% of traditional book sales, but the $16.2 million in sales for July, for example, represented a 213% increase over a year ago, according to Forrester Research.
Right now Amazon has 60% of the market, but the eReader is expected to be a popular Christmas item this year, and Barnes & Noble plans to get in on that opportunity.
Pre-orders for the Nook will begin this week, and the company says it will begin shipping in late November.
The large bookstore has been lunging into the eBook market at full force. It purchased independent eBook seller Fictionwise earlier this year and launched its own eBook store in July. It has also unleashed a series of smartphone applications, with more planned.
While there's no guarantee Barnes & Noble will succeed, it's a necessary move as the book market becomes increasing tough to navigate.
Traditional books — the kind you bring to the beach and lug on the subway — are getting much cheaper.
In the last week, Amazon, Wal-Mart (WMT), and Target (TGT) have begun selling some of this year's hardbacks that are anticipated to be the most popular — books like Stephen King's "Under the Dome " ($35.00) and Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue" (list price: $28.99) — for roughly $9 on pre-orders.
Sure, it's typical to discount bestsellers, especially during the holidays, but few retailers are bold enough to bring down the prices by more than 50%. Barnes & Noble must now hope the Nook masters its niche.
I've been playing around with an acquaintance's Kindle, and I was pretty much sold on it… until I heard about the Nook. Feature-wise, Nook wins for me. I really like that "lending" function, and the expandability. But, ultimately, it will be ease of use that will decide which e-reader I wind up purchasing. I'm looking forward to testing the Nook out in the store.
You all seem to have missed an important feature (not mentioned here, but on B&N's website):
The wireless 3G service is FREE, and included with your Nook. That's right, FREE – you don't pay a monthly subscription to have wireless 3g. B&N specifically state it here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/support/?cds2Pid=30195
Just purchased True Blue for my Kindle, price was not any higher than any of the other hardbacks, $9.90. Really love my kindle.
@Guarav who said, "Plus this has moved to the adobe systems version for reading, so there is going to be no shortage of getting books from other places. "
While more readers are using the ePub format, books you purchase from B&N and other stores will still use DRM. Also, there are plenty of websites where you can obtain free public domain books for the Kindle.
@Bobby
Please check your prices. The majority of Ebooks at B&N are more expensive than their counterparts at Amazon. The exception being bestsellers which are priced about the same.
Gretchen Rhinelander – actually you can upload ebooks, along with several other popular file formats into the Nook. While having a wireless connection probably enables more features it doesn't appear mandatory.
So let me get this straight…Barnes and Noble has just launched their e-book called the Nook. The Nook e-Book. Doesn't anyone from marketing say these things out loud before taking them to market??? They must have received their marketing plan from the makers of Aciphex.
Thanks BN. Many Kindle books are overpriced, i.e. David Baldacci's True Blue which today has a Kindle price more than the hard copy. Amazon needs the competition.
@Ro what r u talking about? B&N has been in business since the late 60's early 70's. They are well positioned to win in this game for a number of reasons: Epub open format (google it), pdf support, "lendme", in store sales, on and on.
Don't forget they're a publisher as well. Even if paper does die(doubtful) by then they will have captured enough of the ebook market to survive. I hate dumb comments.
B&N is going to let you browse and read all the books for free when you are in a B&N store. I think, they can make the brick and mortar stores more popular. Plus this has moved to the adobe systems version for reading, so there is going to be no shortage of getting books from other places. I am also looking forward to getting books from the e library of NYPL and reading them here.
Unfortunately, Ro's comments are not supported by facts. B&N, in its current corporate incarnation, has been around since the early 70's while Amazon has been in business for 12 years. Who's in business for the long haul?
All this wireless technology is great BUT not everyone lives in a part of the country that can access it. It's why I bought a Sony e-reader– not Kindle's wireless technology. I've already checked–same problem with the Nook.
And just how has Amazon proven it is in for a longer haul than Barnes and Noble?
The article quotes the $259 Kindle price. The "full size" Sony is $299.99 at BestBuy.
Sony has an eReader device for sale in Best Buy that sells for $199 and I've seen Kindles for $259, so I'm not sure where you are getting these retail prices from. I'd also be hesitant to buy until reviews come out. B&N doesn't have any history with producing hardware that you can compare this to.
So the problem here is: How long with B&N be in business so they can continue to supply ebooks? My bet – not very long, then you have an expensive paperweight. Stick with Kindle — Amazon has proven it is in business for the long haul.
JM
The 3G network subscription is free for both Nook and Kindle.