Quote:
Originally Posted by RobertJSawyer
My guess is that the Nia is NOT principally intended for the consumer market, but rather was developed as a low-cost item to meet a bidding requirement for a big educational-sector contract -- perhaps in Canada, perhaps in Japan, perhaps in the US, perhaps int he EU. Whatever retail-channel sales there will be I'd guess are incidental.
(My theory of life is simple: don't assume the guy who has left you scratching your head is stupid or making a mistake. Instead, ask yourself what they were thinking, and try to suss out why it made sense to them.  )
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They already have this in the Aura 2. Why pay to go through FCC filings with a new device if your target is principally a school system. They’re not making a lot per device sold as it is, and any large entity buying in bulk from them would likely demand a discount further reducing the profit margin.
I know BN tried pushing into schools with various Nook models over the years. Stores had specific staff to handle this if they sold enough (not just Nooks of course). In the end I believe it was more costly for BN to maintain the support for these kinds of buyers. As mentioned they got discounted devices, and I believe discounts on bulk ebook purchases (these would have been handled differently than the consumer level purchase). Not to mention all the customer support time spent helping people who had no interest in the devices but were forced into using them.
You might be on to something if the target were hotels, which I think Kobo already has some deals in place. Or at least they did awhile back.