Barnes & Noble e-reader leaks early
In 2000 I started a e-commerce website selling books from a stocked inventory of books passed on to me by a semi-retiring publisher. The publisher was moving his business online and no longer selling them from his community stable brick and mortar. His plans were to move online and sell his entire inventory. I joined the race of online entrepreneurs looking for a niche market to enter and claim a stake.
I have since stop selling books online and began to revaluate our business model just in time for the rush of new e- reader devices like the Kindle, Sony Reader and now Barnes & Noble, the largest U.S. bookstore chain has entered the market with the Nook. The Nook was leaked today and finally reveled to the consumer market with features that not even the Seattle online book giant Amazon could brag about.
The “Android based” nook is calling itself the “most advanced e- book reader on the planet” weighing 11.2 ounces and a color touch screen. The device releases just a few months after the second edition of the Kindle went for sale. The features that are the most interesting to me is that it has a built in WiFi with 2GB of storage, a microSD expansion slot, MP3 player, built in speaker, USB port, with the ability to highlight words and make notes. Since so many devices are competing for the 8 percent U.S. adult market who purchased a e-book in 2008 it helps that the Nook allows users to lend books to other e-readers, cellphones or computers through a feature called “LendMe.”
A strategic move for Barnes & Noble who have been struggling with competing against Amazon’s 80 percent control of the online book business. The Nook will allow Barnes & Noble readers to perhaps experience a digital bookstore with your coffee shop versus ordering one from online. If the Nook can leap the hump of consumers withholding discretionary items like music and books then we can possibly look for a similar reaction to reading that music lovers got from the ipod. Devices like the Nook or Kindle are nothing compared to the ownership of a physical book but they are easier to store and carry. For travelers small, slim devices that can hold multiple PDF documents and books is a way to travel light.
Plus who wants to see you carry two Harry Potter books, 1 New York Times newspaper and a copy of The Economist in your hands waiting at the bus stop. That the equivalent of carrying a milk crate of vinyl records and a portable turntable to listen to music. Trust me as a Disc Jockey for the over 16 years carrying those crates is not light.
