TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

Archive for the ‘B&N’ Category

By David Rothman

Just what percentage of B&N stores will offer the Nook for immediate purchase, not just demos? A PaidContent piece talked about the unit being available for on-the-spot buys at only certain stories.

But now B&N has come forward with a clarification saying that it expects that “nook eBook readers” will be “in stock in the majority” of “stores by the peak holiday season.” Furthermore, B&N “plans to have nook devices in stock in all of its stores by early next year.” Great news! The full statement from B&N spokesperson Mary Ellen Keating follows.

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By David Rothman

The Que e-reader from Plastic Logic—not just Barnes and Noble’s own Nook—will go on sale at B&N for those who want a large shatter-proof E Ink-based screen. See Plastic Logic news release, Wired News, CNet and Google roundup. Best guess is that the price could be at least $400, or far more than the $259 Nook.

As reported by Wired: “The Que proReader will handle eBooks in the PDF, ePub, eReader, and eReader DRM formats; magazines and newspapers in the GIF, JPEG, PNG, BMP, and TXT formats; and documents in the Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint formats.” Plastic Logic is continuing to position the Que as a versatile document-reader for business, rather than simply an e-book reader.

B&N already had said it would serve as Plastic Logic’s content partner after the the Que goes on sale next year. The latest wrinkle is that Que owners will be able to use WiFi browse entire e-books while they’re at a B&N store—just as Nook owners can.

Other hardware news: Bridgestone announces flexible touchscreen color e-reader, in Engadget, via MobileRead. Specs: “5.8mm thick, features a 13.1-inch touch-sensitive e-paper display (with 4,096 colors and a refresh rate of about 0.8 seconds), and some sort of unspecified mobile phone connectivity.”

Related: Not enough bricks to make the Nook click? B&N will sell take-home Nooks at only ‘certain’ stores.

By David Rothman

Each B&N store will get a demo Nook, but PaidContent reports that “only certain stores will carry the Nook for on-the-spot sales.”

Gee, I thought B&N would get behind this one. The brick factor is the big advantage that B&N could enjoy over Amazon. People are much less likely to make impulse buys if they can’t take home a unit now.

Hmm. Could the analysts be right after all in downgrading the stock? It’s great for B&N to have a digital strategy. But that isn’t necessarily the same as a well-executed strategy.

By Paul Biba

The always excellent Amazon Kindle Review has a great article today on whether it is really necessary for Amazon to adopt EPUB. It points out that in the past the Kindle has done well without such support. And in the future the author notes that B&N does’t bill EPUB support as a feature, the Sony Reader only mentions it as feature #11 and the Plastic Logic Que doesn’t mention it at all.

He goes on the say that of his 5 favorite “Kindle killer” articles 3 don’t mention EPUB and the other two list it way down on the feature list. As he points out the sales figures seem to indicate that people don’t care about “openness”.

This is something I’ve wondered about myself. I would point out that at the B&N press conference the President of the company stated outright that people don’t care about formats.

In any event, you should read the article if you are an EPUB fan and want to get your blood running a bit faster.

By the way, I would have loved to illustrate this article with an EPUB logo, but guess what?

By David Rothman

Isn’t Wall Street wonderful? Long term, the Nook just might be great for Barnes & Noble shareholders, given the rapid growth of e-books. But Goldman Sachs—yes, the some overpaid people whom D.C. pampered with a bailouts—has downgraded the stock. Nothing like encouraging investment and innovation, no? CreditSuisse is also downgrading B&N shares.

Oh, well. Greed is good, especially the short-term kind.

I agree with Goldman and CreditSuisse on the need to level with shareholders. But the focus on the short term is unfortunate. Haven’t people been calling for brick-and-click synergies? That’s what B&N will be up to, with its in-store WiFi browsing strategy and the ability of shoppers to try out Nooks before buying.

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By Ficbot

There is a guy at MobileRead with $400 in geo-restricted books sitting on his Fictionwise wish list unable to be bought. I just can’t believe that publishers who really cares about their readers would really sacrifice that guy, his wishlist and his $400.

All this just to save a few hardback sales? And because he lives in the UK instead of elsewhere? Most e-book readers I know don’t buy hardback novels anyway, so it’s not quite the same market.

I would love to get an educated take from publishers. My bottom line on this is, I think the time has come for them to stop explaining why things are the way they are. Instead publishers should tell what their timeline is for fixing this mess, what steps will be involved, and to whom we as readers (and customers!) might address our emails to get things moving along.

We need to show the ones in charge how much we care about this and how much money the publishing industry stands to lose here.

By Ficbot

With Amazon, and now Barnes & Noble, coming out with major new releases, it looks like competition is heating up at last in the emerging e-reader marketplace.

Like most e-book fans, I read the news with interest. Following the not unexpected but still disappointing news that neither the international Kindle nor the B&N Nook would be made available to Canadians soon, I started wondering about people who shop based on features and people who shop based on brand loyalty.

I always thought I was a tough customer who researched every purchase carefully and shopped on the features. But as I read the details about these spiffy new products—available to everyone but YOU, Ficbot, you CANADIAN, you—I looked at my Sony in a new light.

Canada love from Sony

Sony loves Canada. They want me to buy their readers. I got mine in a store, even! Retail! From a clerk who even was properly trained and knew his stuff! Sony has given me the Mac software. They have given me the Google Books access.

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By Court Merrigan

David and others may see some double entendre in Barnes & Noble’s new Nook<, but not me.

Maybe I’m just hopelessly naïve, but not only does the Book Nook in my hometown represent my earliest childhood memory of a bookstore, but I also have a two-year old in my house.  So naturally the first thing that came to my mind was Dr. Seuss:

We took a look.

We saw a Nook.

On his head he had a hook.

On his head he had a book …

(I didn’t have to Google that quote, I’ll have you know.  No, I have the entirety of One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish memorized.) 

Think the Marketing folks in at B & N are big Seuss fans?

By David Rothman

By David Rothman

• B&N on Nook: Android SDK possible—plus other goodies from news conf with B&N online-biz prez
• So what do I think of the Nook? Great for getting the ebook word out there
• B&N’s DRMed ePub comes with compatibility gotchas for now—plus the possibility of social DRM
• ‘Barnes & Noble adopts open EPUB eBook Format, PDF and Adobe Content Server’
• Report on Nook news conference: B&N switching to ePub—plus other news conf tidbits
• B&N’s $259 Nook: Friend-lend, sync between devices, WiFi AND 3G, Android operating system, ePub, PDF capabilities
• The Nook e-reader: Why B&N needs to hire marketers with dirtier minds
• Barnes and Noble’s new e-reader and the Donner Party

By David Rothman

Note: Go here for B&N’s Nook details and here for the media kit, including images. Also see Techmeme roundup with earlier stories. – D.R.

Do you want to run Android apps and a good Web browser on the Nook, the new e-reader from Barnes & Noble? Then speak up in our comments section.

“We haven’t announced anything regarding putting out an SDK or putting out a developer environment,” said William J. Lynch, president of Barnes & Noble.com. But he said B&N would be open to this if enough customers wanted it. Why not oblige him?

Here is what else TeleRead picked up from Lynch’s teleconference with news organizations this morning:

–Web browsing or lack thereof: “There’s no browser on the Nook today. Could we have one in the future? Sure, we’re looking at all kinds of different feature sets for our road map…What people want to do primarily with these devices is read….Should…consumers…identify that as something in their reader, we’ll include it.” So share your opinions, and I’ll make sure that B&N sees them.

–Browsing at stores: Shoppers at B&N’s physical stores, as I understand it, will be able to browse entire books.

–Geo limits: Owners of the Nook will apparently be out of luck if they’re traveling outside the U.S. and want to buy a book, or at least the geo-protected variety. On the positive side, you can use the WiFi from home and other locations in the States to shop for books, not just the physical stores. The Nook also comes with 3G AT&T wireless access.

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By David Rothman

Update: See Paul’s report from the news conference.

B&N’s $259 Nook e-reader will let you lend books to friends, sync the last-read pages with other devices, and offer WiFi and 3G wireless capabilities. That’s according to info available from the B&N site today.

Other features: Six-inch E Ink screen, 3.5 inch color touch screen, direct PDF-reading.

Key links: Feature comparison vs. Kindle. Also see other feature info and ordering page from B&N. Plus tech specs, accessory list and B&N e-book blog, as well as support information.

Other features: 6 inch E Ink screen, 3.5 inch color touch screen, direct PDF-reading.

Format info and other details picked up by Felix: “Pdf, epub, pdb, Not clear which pdb flavor or which format has drm. MicroSDHC support is good, wifi is good. Lots of bragging about the google crapscan, though. Will be interesting to see if it supports Android apps.” Decent Web browsing possible, if so?

More to come: Paul Biba will be at the 4 p.m. news conference.

Your reactions—and mine: Thoughts? In my opinion, the Nook is about what we expected, more or less, no? The WiFi capability will be nice. But I’m sorry not to see text-to-speech.So far, however, as of this 3:39 p.m. update, Twitter reaction seems favorable.

Related: Wall Street Journal article from this afternoon, Google News and Techmeme roundups.

(Via Reading 2.0 and Amgela James.)

By David Rothman

Is Barnes & Noble high-pressuring writers to link their sites to its online store?

Our friends at GalleyCat have the story, following up on SmartBitches, Trashy Books.

Somebody at one publisher is even said to have emailed writers: “I’m not exaggerating when I say they WILL NOT ORDER the book unless their site is listed.” Ouch!

Now here’s a special e-book angle. When happens when interbook linking is common? Will B&N—and Amazon!—seek special favors? And do some very nasty things to avoid disintermediation?

In fairness to B&N: GalleyCat reports: “One editor writes in to say the message she’s seen from B&N hasn’t been quite so stark: ‘What I’ve heard is B&N requesting that if you are linking to Amazon to please link to them as well.’”

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By Paul Biba

E-books are just a tiny part of the market—estimates are typically well below five percent—but this press release from B&N is good news for the future. May the big publishers pay attention! And also back off from DRM and other e-book killjoys!

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller, announced today that downloads for both the B&N Bookstore app and the B&N eReader app for the iPhone and iPod touch have hit the one million mark. The company also said that its free B&N eReader app is one of the most popular apps in the iTunes Books category, having held the number one position throughout the summer. …

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By David Rothman

Barnes & Noble has filed with the FCC, as reported by Engadget, though it isn’t clear if if the Plastic Logic reader is the gizmo under consideration.

What’s your guess?

I suspect that it’s the same device for which B&N will power the bookstore.

Furthermore, though this is almost surely outside the FCC’s turf, the reader will most likely use ePub, among other formats—with DRM provided by Fictionwise, now a branch of B&N.

Speaking of DRM—and not just in a B&N context: I’d love for the New York Times to explore, in depth, how proprietary DRM lessens the usefulness of ePub as a standard.

Right now it looks as if we’re headed for B&N-DRMed ePub, Adobe-DRMed ePub and maybe even Kindle-DRMed ePub in time. A piece on social DRM, which Adobe exec Bill McCoy has talked up in the past, would also be a nice gift from the Times to its readers, some of whom just happen to be big New York publishers. Likewise a detailed look at geo-bans and DRM[related factors would be nice, with quotes from affected readers such as Ficbot.

By David Rothman

Pat Conroy is among my favorite writers, and I was looking forward to buying South of Broad from the new Barnes and Noble e-store despite some warnings from early readers.

But guess what. The price is $14.99 at B&N and $9.99 at Amazon’s Kindle Store. Both companies, probably due to publisher or author requirements, have tainted the files with DRM. Granted, B&N’s DRM is far less of a burden than Amazon’s. But that’s a huge price difference. Here’s one more reason for B&N to try to work with publishers and writers to drop DRM or replace it with social DRM. Look, how about a B&N ePub Store—the e-book equivalent of Jeff Bezos’s MP3 store, which was avoiding DRM well before iTunes finally got the message. Without DRM, you can own e-books for real and play them on more devices. No need to worry about a company losing interest in e-books or going out of business.

Mystery: Just how will B&N compete with Jeff?

With Amazon’s subsidies on so many bestsellers, just how will B&N compete—especially since its software isn’t nearly as slick or easy to use? Although B&N’s software runs on more platforms than Amazon does, this advantage could evaporate in time.

Enough. Me, I’m going on a walk through the halls of my apartment complex. I’ll be toting and reading from an iPod Touch with a freshly downloaded copy of the Conroy book, in Kindle format. B&N, do you read me? If you want me to pay $14.99, work harder with writers and publishers to drop the DRM! $9.99 is bad enough just to rent an e-book. $14.99 is an outrage.

Related: David Pogue’s comparison of the B&N and Amazon stores, in the New York Times.

By David Rothman

Over at Harvard Business Review, Rita McGrath says Amazon could lose out to Barnes and Noble’s multidevice approach.

But wait! Hasn’t Jeff Bezos himself given strong hints that Amazon will work to get Kindle books on a bunch of platforms?

Considering the far-from-gung-ho reactions to B&N’s current e-bookstore, I wouldn’t worry that much in Jeff’s shoes, at least for now. Amazon still has more of a chance of dominating e-books. B&N so far has tuned out me and others pleading for the chain to try to ditch traditional DRM in favor of no DRM or social DRM so people can own books for real. Talk about a stubborn refusal to consider this major product differentiation!

Meanwhile, writing for the Guardian, Victor Keegan notes how power has flowed from traditional publishers to Google and Amazon and, perhaps, Apple in time.

One way for publishers to win back their lost power

But can’t publishers mitigate and perhaps even reverse the above by insisting on a standard e-book format without proprietary DRM (a major negative even with a multiplatform approach)?

Keegan talks about the possible end of book ownership. But you can have ownership if you phase out DRMed anything in favor of nonDRMed ePub, the core format on which major publishers have agreed. Let ePub be plain vanilla ePub, not Adobe-ized ePub or Sonyized ePub or B&Nized ePub or, in the future, maybe Amazonized or Googleized ePub. No 800-pound gorillas!

DRM vs. max inventory

DRM and other proprietary baggage can get in the way of readers locating what they want, even at Amazon, where, despite all those hundreds of thousands of titles, I still can’t find Saul Bellows’ masterpieces in E. Proprietary tech jacks up costs and makes books less likely to be candidates for conversion.

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