Price war? B&N gets aggressive: Nooks at US$149-199

[flyash]

Originally Posted by dedo

You don't need to know the costs structure to understand why B&N shouldn't be satisfied at all. You just need to know they're quite similiar (probably Amazon has even some advantages, as you said). B&N only showed that Nook is more price-sensitive than Kindle without stealing any actual/prospective market share (i.e. installed base) since Amazon replied immediately doing even better.

Huh???

I'd respond, but fjtorres explained it well.

[luqmaninbmore]

Originally Posted by Scott Nicholson

I feel it's a content war, and B&N is too far behind to ever catch up. The Kindle app on the iPad virtually guarantees short-term dominance to Amazon. Devices will soon be an afterthought.

Scott

Uh, there's a B and N eReader APP on the iPad, too. I don't see a huge difference in app coverage between B and N and Amazon. Heck, I can even use the eReader DRMed books on my old Palm and on my Linux pcs, so that may give B and N an edge.

[dedo]

Originally Posted by flyash

Huh???

I'd respond, but fjtorres explained it well.

No. Their products are alternative. You buy an ebook on Amazon, you read it on Kindle. You buy an ebook on B&N, you read it on Nook.

Surely there will be other casualties (I doubt Amazon was ever scared by other competitors than B&N and maybe Sony, they're small and they lack contents), but it has been a price war between them and Amazon won. Same market with huge network effects, very similiar products, same walled-garden business model, one cuts the price today the other cuts the price tomorrow...

[burghguy]

I bought one a few weeks ago and paid more (259) and got the free 50 dollar gift card. call the 1800 number with your reciept info and you will get a 10 dollar credit card refund, which evens out the price. They tried to get me to accept a 10 dollar gift card, but I said I didn't want it. They tried to tell me that b/c I hadn't used the gift card within 14 days of purchase that would not do anything. I threatened to return it and by and Kindle and they gave me the money.

I would actually add that NO ONE SHOULD PURCHASE A NOOK. A few weeks prior they pulled the same thing, by adding the 50 dollar gift card to the 259 price. If you do buy it, make sure to get a GIFT RECIEPT which extends the return policy to 30 days.

As far as I'm concerned companies that pull this stuff (i.e. apple as well) should be boycotted until they make restitution

[luqmaninbmore]

Originally Posted by burghguy

I bought one a few weeks ago and paid more (259) and got the free 50 dollar gift card. call the 1800 number with your reciept info and you will get a 10 dollar credit card refund, which evens out the price. They tried to get me to accept a 10 dollar gift card, but I said I didn't want it. They tried to tell me that b/c I hadn't used the gift card within 14 days of purchase that would not do anything. I threatened to return it and by and Kindle and they gave me the money.

I would actually add that NO ONE SHOULD PURCHASE A NOOK. A few weeks prior they pulled the same thing, by adding the 50 dollar gift card to the 259 price. If you do buy it, make sure to get a GIFT RECIEPT which extends the return policy to 30 days.

As far as I'm concerned companies that pull this stuff (i.e. apple as well) should be boycotted until they make restitution

They should make restitution for throwing in a 50 dollar gift card? Holy sense of entitlement, Batman!

[Avarwen]

Originally Posted by burghguy

I bought one a few weeks ago and paid more (259) and got the free 50 dollar gift card. call the 1800 number with your reciept info and you will get a 10 dollar credit card refund, which evens out the price. They tried to get me to accept a 10 dollar gift card, but I said I didn't want it. They tried to tell me that b/c I hadn't used the gift card within 14 days of purchase that would not do anything. I threatened to return it and by and Kindle and they gave me the money.

I would actually add that NO ONE SHOULD PURCHASE A NOOK. A few weeks prior they pulled the same thing, by adding the 50 dollar gift card to the 259 price. If you do buy it, make sure to get a GIFT RECIEPT which extends the return policy to 30 days.

As far as I'm concerned companies that pull this stuff (i.e. apple as well) should be boycotted until they make restitution

It's called business there's always going to be someone who buys the product before the put out a deal, before they make a price cut or before they put out a new model. This is why I don't buy a product until the second gen or it at least been out a good while as prices always drop and better models always come out.

[kdittyr]

Originally Posted by kevinp

I'm still disgusted that paperbacks are almost half the cost of the ebook version. When will any of the retailers do anything about that?

(quoted by)

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

I've still not ran into that in the Kindle store. Granted I only buy a book or two a month.

But all the stuff I've bought was the same, or a little less, than the paperback price on amazon.com

There was a post in the news section: When will the price drop?

I looked up the book they were talking about and the kindle book is $12.99 whereas the paperback is $7.99.
Naamah's Kiss (Kushiel Legacy)

[gintzj]

This past weekend Best Buy listed the Sony from 299. to 199. two 50 dollar drops

Interesting


gintzj

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by kdittyr

(quoted by)


There was a post in the news section: When will the price drop?

I looked up the book they were talking about and the kindle book is $12.99 whereas the paperback is $7.99.
Naamah's Kiss (Kushiel Legacy)

The paperback of that book just came out (before a few weeks ago it was $12.99 vs the HC price).

Either the publisher is screwing around trying to see if ebook readers will still pay the higher price or they're just incompetent about getting price changes done when the mmpb is released is the question. Back in the earlier days of ebooks this "forgetting" to lower the ebook price was quite common and would usually only get changed when the publisher was called on it. Hatchette and Macmillan especially seemed to have this problem in the past.

[kdittyr]

I was surprised to go to sonystyle's website to look at their readers and the price difference of the pocket to the touch was only $30 (touch being $199), yet the difference between the touch and the daily was $150 (daily being $349). I think people were right in that the lower end of the market will fluctuate price-wise, however, you reach a market point where people are willing to pay for certain things like a large screen.

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Either the publisher is screwing around trying to see if ebook readers will still pay the higher price or they're just incompetent about getting price changes done when the mmpb is released is the question. Back in the earlier days of ebooks this "forgetting" to lower the ebook price was quite common and would usually only get changed when the publisher was called on it. Hatchette and Macmillan especially seemed to have this problem in the past.

I didn't know that, that kind of blows. Willful ignorance? Actually, I guess they might just hope that nobody notices.

Is it that the ebook market hasn't really hit a schedule of sorts? I think what I mean is that publishers are playing with it because they figure the quality doesn't change like the difference in binding between hardcover and paperback.

[flyash]

Originally Posted by kdittyr

I was surprised to go to sonystyle's website to look at their readers and the price difference of the pocket to the touch was only $30 (touch being $199), yet the difference between the touch and the daily was $150 (daily being $349). I think people were right in that the lower end of the market will fluctuate price-wise, however, you reach a market point where people are willing to pay for certain things like a large screen.

LOL. As I mentioned in another thread, $350 for the 900 is pure comedy when the 600 is $200. Find one person on this forum who would buy the 900 for $350. I guarantee that Sony will either drop the price of the 900 and it's replacement in the fall, or discontinue the 7" reader.

At $350 for a 7" reader, the 900 is stuck in a no-man's land between sub $200 6" readers and bigger/slightly more expensive readers that are much better for PDFs. A $350 Sony 900 makes even less sense to me than a $489 Kindle DX.

[BenLee]

$350 for a 900 is definitely laughable. I do not understand why the DX is still $489. Are they even making any sales at this point with the DX?

[dorino]

Originally Posted by BenLee

$350 for a 900 is definitely laughable. I do not understand why the DX is still $489. Are they even making any sales at this point with the DX?

They're making quite a few, I'll bet. And it's for the same reason the 900 is still actually selling... The name.

[fishface]

So you can buy 3 nooks, tape them together, and have more viewing area for less cost than a DX.

[riemann42]

It has been said previously on this thread, but I will repeat. The Kindle only reads books purchased from Amazon, free books without DRM, and of course hacked books.

The B&N is open. It reads Adobe epub. It reads library books. It reads books purchased from the Sony Store, Kobo store, and many others.

Yes, B&N books can only be read on the nook and (if you know how to make it download ereader files) anything that reads ereader files. HOWEVER, the extension to epub they made is available to anyone who wants to pay adobe for it.

In short, now with a $149 price, it makes no sense to buy just about anything else, unless the shortcomings of the nook (annotations & dictionary support are poor) are too much for you.