Quote:
Originally Posted by RobertJSawyer
MGlitch: You don't know what the RFP demanded. For instance, it might have required more than 4GB of storage, which is all the Aura 2 has; the Nia has more. You also don't win many technology tenders by coming to the table with a device that's been on the market for four years.
(And given that B&N botched just about EVERYTHING in relation to nook, losing over a billion dollars on that product line, it's hardly significant to say they screwed up in the education market, too; they couldn't make ANY market work profitably for their product.  ) |
Then replace the Aura 2 with the Clara which has a near meaningless price difference for obvious feature upgrades.
There's still no profit in selling in bulk to school systems. It's a PR move, which is why Apple and Microsoft donate to schools. Both companies with rather a lot more money to spend than Rakuten Kobo does.
Even Amazon isn't pushing hard into the school market at this point.
It's just not a profit rich market, because all these companies are selling their basic ereaders at a near loss as it is, and without a known conversion rate of the students the companies can't be sure of turning a profit on the work done.