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B&N reminds me of Blockbuster, with Amazon being their Netflix.
Way back when, Netflix actually went to Blockbuster and offered to sell themselves to Blockbuster. Blockbuster basically laughed in their faces, refusing. The rest is history, including Blockbuster's own bungled attempts at updating (they tried by mail and I think maybe even some kind of half-baked on-demand streaming tied to I think it was Dish Network who bought them out just before their eventual bankruptcy).
So there are differences in B&N/Amazon, but the similarities are striking. On one hand, you have an older previously successful company that bungled its attempt at adapting to newer technology and is failing because of it. On the other hand, you have a newer and very quickly growing technologically advanced company with smart and forward-thinking CEOs who basically stole the market, or at least the majority share.
The sad thing about B&N is that I think they did try harder than Blockbuster, but they had the same inept bureaucracy in the end. Management that had been too easily successful before and couldn't properly see how to be successful in a different environment. B&N came closer than Blockbuster, but still lost out to its more technologically adept rival.
I did have a Nook once; I think it was even my first dedicated ereader. I think that's how I found this site - looking for recommendations on which ereader to get as my first, and I chose the Nook. That will probably be the first and last Nook I ever own, unless B&N and Nook have some miraculous turn-around.
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