Barnes & Noble Unveils the Nook 3G/Wi-Fi Digital Reader
By Calvin Reid -- Publishers Weekly, 10/20/2009 5:22:00 PM
Turns out the mysterious photos released last week of a rumored Barnes & Noble-sponsored digital reader were the real deal. B&N CEO Steve Riggio along with B&N.com president William Lynch were on hand to show off the new device—called the Nook—at a packed press conference on the west side of Manhattan Tuesday afternoon. The Nook is an unusual dual screen digital reader—it has a six-inch grayscale E-Ink display with a full-color backlit touch-control screen situated just below—that raises the ante on E-Ink devices. The Nook offers a virtual keyboard, two GB of internal memory with expandable (16 gig) SD card and five different fonts.
The device will go on sale exclusively in B&N stores and through B&N.com at the end of November, and the nook.com site has already gone live. Priced, unsurprisingly, at $259, the same price as the Amazon Kindle 2, the Nook not only offers wireless connectivity over a 3G network (AT&T) but also Wi-Fi connectivity as well—although Lynch originally said the Wi-fi would be limited to in-store access, a B&N spokesperson issued a correction. The device will connect with any Wi-Fi network. In addition Nook owners can wirelessly lend/transmit titles for up to 14 days (although once lent, the book’s owner cannot access it) to anyone else with a Nook, iPhone or other selected smartphone OS that has the B&N eReader software installed.
The device supports EPub and PDF as well as the Fictionwise eReader format (the e-tailer was acquired by B&N last year), and consumers can purchase titles directly through the machine. Indeed, B&N is going all out to highlight its e-book flexibility—Nook owners will be able to move their e-books from device to device and read their B&N e-books on their iPhone, Blackberry or what have you. Lynch claimed the Nook will synch with more than 100 mobile devices. In addition to the LendMe function, B&N plans to step up its in-store Wi-Fi broadcasting to allow Nook owners to browse freely through any e-book B&N has for sale while in the store—no downloading; content will be streamed.
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| BN.com president Bill Lynch (l.) and the Nook design team (l. to r.) of Douglas Gottlieb and Tony Astarita at the press conference |
Looking to leverage its bookstore network, B&N will roll out a specially designed in-store nook, well, display nook for the device. Yes, there’s more. Lynch expects to offer Nook apps, although he declined to specify whether the apps would be B&N-developed or if third-party software developers would be invited. Oh, no Web browsing; “Web browsing is clumsy on E-Ink devices,” he said. Lynch also said to look for bundling of e-books and print books; perhaps a larger format Nook for the educational market and maybe library sales. Asked about exclusive releases through the Nook—in other words, original e-publishing—Lynch gave a kind of nonaffirmative affirmation along the lines of “we’re working with our publishing partners.” Of course, Amazon is publishing exclusively to the Kindle right now, and no doubt B&N will as well. The reader is launching with more than one million books available for download, a figure that includes over 500,000 public domain titles. The price for bestsellers is $9.99, and Lynch said B&N will remain competitive on price—no matter what the eventual price points turn out to be.
The Nook is certainly another step forward in the evolution of E-Ink digital reading devices. While B&N will continue to sell e-books with DRM, it is offering consumers a much more open and flexible digital reading system than the Kindle or even the now-open Sony Reader. The Nook’s price is attractive, and while the color touch-screen controls seem more about being cool than being necessary, the LendMe function, the synching with other mobile devices and B&N’s planned in-store wireless broadcasting/promotions have a very good chance of offering Amazon and the Kindle 2 some stiff competition over the holiday sales season.
