How does Barnes and Noble respond?

[boswd]

Now that the wraps are uncovered on the new kindle family. How does BN respond?

Even though I'm sure production is in process so nothing will most likely change at this point but for the nook color 2 I would like to see :

1. a dual core processor
2. Run Gingerbread at least
3. Open up the Android market.
4. Pump up the Netflix App
5. Work out something with Vudu

and it's going to have to come down to at withing a $10 to $15 price difference.

Nook STR, while the $99 price tag on the Kindle touch is eye popping, the kindle touch without ads is priced at basically the same price as the Nook STR so I don't think they have to do much their, though, they might want to think about at least bringing it o$125 or $115.

What do you guys think?

[SensualPoet]

Presumably, B&N has something up its sleeve to announce (and ship) in time for Amazon's mid-November ship dates. Amazon brings a lot of value to the tablet table at $199 for a cloud based device with video.

The new Kindle e-ink devices slightly reset the pricing models, particularly with a $79 Kindle-without-touch-and-without-keyboard-but-with-a-bunch-of-ads ereader as a marketable entry point.

The standard Kindle Touch WiFi is $139 ... the same as the B&N Nook Touch and similar to Kobo and Sony. So, in the eink space, Amazon is pacing the market primarily vs. the tablet area where it clearly is offering something dramatically new and better than anything at the price level.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

Presumably, B&N has something up its sleeve to announce (and ship) in time for Amazon's mid-November ship dates. Amazon brings a lot of value to the tablet table at $199 for a cloud based device with video.

The new Kindle e-ink devices slightly reset the pricing models, particularly with a $79 Kindle-without-touch-and-without-keyboard-but-with-a-bunch-of-ads ereader as a marketable entry point.

The standard Kindle Touch WiFi is $139 ... the same as the B&N Nook Touch and similar to Kobo and Sony. So, in the eink space, Amazon is pacing the market primarily vs. the tablet area where it clearly is offering something dramatically new and better than anything at the price level.

for the eink devices I guess it's going to come down to how popular the "With Special Offers" are. That is a pretty big price difference between the two Kindles $99 and $139.
If the WSO's is huge Barnes and NOble is going to have to find an answer.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by Ken Stuart

New Kindle Color Tablet is almost a clone of the current Nook Color - only difference is dual-core processor, which is simply the current processor at the same price point.

New Kindle E-Ink Tablet is almost a clone of the current Nook.

It looks like Amazon is banking on the word "Kindle" as the Official Media Word for E-Reader (just as the media use "Tivo" instead of "DVR").

I've been running Gingerbread on my Nook Color for about six months, with an open Android Market. (Admittedly you have to be a "techie" or have someone do it for you.)

At this point, most of the difference between devices is software that I don't want, since I don't want to be tied with an umbilical cord to Apple, Amazon or BN.

Yeah once the smoke clears you find outside of a dual core processor it's not a huge advancement over the Nook color that is a year older.
This is an interesting spec comparison.

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_7...?tag=cnetRiver

[kjk]

Originally Posted by boswd

Yeah once the smoke clears you find outside of a dual core processor it's not a huge advancement over the Nook color that is a year older.
This is an interesting spec comparison.

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_7...?tag=cnetRiver

The specs are the least important part of the Fire.
The integration with Amazon's services is the key.

[Daithi]

They'll probably respond with bankruptcy.

[SCION]

Originally Posted by kjk

The specs are the least important part of the Fire.
The integration with Amazon's services is the key.

Bingo! It doesn't matter what hardware is unveiled on the next NOOKcolor. The content or lack thereof is the same. Unless you want nothing to do with anything Amazon or .mobi/.azw, the choice is obvious. Plus you get to save $50 with access to more ebook titles.

[SCION]

Originally Posted by Daithi

They'll probably respond with bankruptcy.

That would not be a good thing. Don't want them to disappear.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by kjk

The specs are the least important part of the Fire.
The integration with Amazon's services is the key.

Yeah I agree, that's why I think they are going to need to open up the Android Market and get NetFlix and Hulu on board which will also bring the Amazon Mp3 store.

because if they do then

Android Market trumps the Amazon Market
Netflix trumps Prime
Hulu and Amazon Instant rentals will be a wash
Amazon Mp3 will be a wash.

[OtterBooks]

Their first response was to have their stock take a immediate 10% plunge after the Amazon press conference.

[SCION]

Originally Posted by boswd

Yeah I agree, that's why I think they are going to need to open up the Android Market and get NetFlix and Hulu on board which will also bring the Amazon Mp3 store.

...

That would be HUGE!

[boswd]

Originally Posted by Daithi

They'll probably respond with bankruptcy.

Though I do find it bizarre that fanboyism calls for people losing their jobs and losing a competitor to bring forth newer innovation and price wars only to bring yourself instant gratification

but having said all that, If the price points keep getting lower and if the ebook industry will be it's future, then I think you'll see more physical store closing.

[OtterBooks]

Hopefully they'll release a new Nook Color and it will do well. boswd is right: the competition will be beneficial to everyone, and bankruptcy would be a sad event for many workers.

[fjtorres]

B&N should be okay when it comes to competing with the K4Touch and the Fire, just on the basis of their sd card support. NC2 may need to come in at $229 but even staying at $249 won't kill them. Not short term.
The problem for B&N is longer term: installed base.

Amazon started the year with a big lead in install base and a comfortable, but hardly overwhelming, market share edge. B&N could hope to erode US market share and keep Kindle from running away. That is no longer an option. Not long term.
Fire aside, Amazon now sells *five* Kindle models in three fork factors; touch, keyboard, and bare. That gives them three wifi models priced lower than Nook. Nook has no answer to two. And while the keyboard Kindle is a known quantity, the big threat to B&N is the bare Kindle 4.

Most reports seem to be deprecating the $79 KSO as a loss-leader, which may be a mistake. Even at the Adfree $109 it is a pearl-based, highly portable reader with wifi and a browser. Slightly narower than a PB360, slightly wider than a Sony350, but with a 6in screen. $20-40 cheaper than anything else not named Kindle.
Not everybody has touchscreen on the brain so this K4 is going to *sell*.
When the final tally comes in, all the work B&N put in to narrowing the market share gap likely will be for naught. And since both Amazon and B&N are really fighting for ebook sales, which are a function of the installed base not the rate of new reader sales, B&N's long term plan of replacing declining pbook revenue with ebook revenue just got a lot harder.

Mind you, compared to the *other* epub vendors, B&N is in great shape.
Its easy to forsee another exodus, starting with iRiver.

By this time next year, I can easily see Kindle+Nook+Kobo adding up to 99% market share. And with dedicated ebook readers already in 15% of US households, and maybe 10-15% more ready to jump in, according to recent reports, this particular game doesn't have long to run.

Time to find a new game (k-12, academia?) and soon.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Ken Stuart

New Kindle Color Tablet is almost a clone of the current Nook Color - only difference is dual-core processor, which is simply the current processor at the same price point.

At this point, most of the difference between devices is software that I don't want, since I don't want to be tied with an umbilical cord to Apple, Amazon or BN.

I think that the microSD slot on the Nook is a very significant hardware difference, which, besides allowing memory expansion, allows "non-techies" to trivially run full Android.