New Nook ereader clears the FCC

[azayn]

Wow, this is surprising news from B&N. I seriously thought they were done with e-readers after they moved their Nook devices to the back of the store and stopped promoting them.

But good on them for not throwing in the towel yet. With Walmart fumbling the US launch of Kobo, I think B&N still has a sliver of a chance depending on how well this launch goes.
Still its going to be tough to put a dent in Amazon's market share with the new refreshed Kindle Basic and Paperwhite.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by azayn

Wow, this is surprising news from B&N. I seriously thought they were done with e-readers after they moved their Nook devices to the back of the store and stopped promoting them.

But good on them for not throwing in the towel yet. With Walmart fumbling the US launch of Kobo, I think B&N still has a sliver of a chance depending on how well this launch goes.

Walmart crappy handling of Kobo, Microsoft's there-and-gone-again bookstore and B&N's Nook in general show that the real reason Amazon doesn't have competition is that none of the competitors truly cares about ebooks.

Still its going to be tough to put a dent in Amazon's market share with the new refreshed Kindle Basic and Paperwhite.

Hardware-wise, I think the Glowlight 3 is nicer than the new Paperwhite. Kindle doesn't have the best hardware. But they have very good software and a currently unbeatable ecosystem.

[DuckieTigger]

(Bold mine)

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Walmart crappy handling of Kobo, Microsoft's there-and-gone-again bookstore and B&N's Nook in general show that the real reason Amazon doesn't have competition is that none of the competitors truly cares about ebooks.

This.

Hardware-wise, I think the Glowlight 3 is nicer than the new Paperwhite. Kindle doesn't have the best hardware. But they have very good software and a currently unbeatable ecosystem.

And that together probably is all that is to it. You nailed it. While the ecosystem could do with some improvements, overall it is pretty solid compared to existing stores and setting a high bar for new stores.

[pwalker8]

I don't know that I would say they don't care, they just don't have the vision and are unable to execute. Amazon spent a lot of time and money building up their infrastructure and content, something neither B&N nor Kobo seem to get. I do give Apple credit for at least making an effort this year, but it's not enough. It may be enough for the market they are shooting for, but they aren't going to come close to Amazon's market.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I don't know that I would say they don't care, they just don't have the vision and are unable to execute. Amazon spent a lot of time and money building up their infrastructure and content, something neither B&N nor Kobo seem to get. I do give Apple credit for at least making an effort this year, but it's not enough. It may be enough for the market they are shooting for, but they aren't going to come close to Amazon's market.

I think you're right. I hate to admit it, but it doesn't look too good for anybody not Amazon. I had high hopes that Rakuten and Walmart were serious about competing with Amazon. Unless they've got something up their sleeves, it appears their roll-out is a massive dud.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I think you're right. I hate to admit it, but it doesn't look too good for anybody not Amazon. I had high hopes that Rakuten and Walmart were serious about competing with Amazon. Unless they've got something up their sleeves, it appears their roll-out is a massive dud.

For the most part, I doubt that the physical device actually drives sales anymore. For Kobo to get into the market, I think they will need to dramatically improve their ebook store first.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I think you're right. I hate to admit it, but it doesn't look too good for anybody not Amazon. I had high hopes that Rakuten and Walmart were serious about competing with Amazon. Unless they've got something up their sleeves, it appears their roll-out is a massive dud.

I feel like Amazon is the only company that really cares about ebooks.

Well, actually, I think Kobo cares about them, but unfortunately, it doesn't seem as if Rakuten really does...or maybe they do actually care, and just have no idea how to compete with Amazon.

I hope I'm wrong, because I would *really* like for Amazon to have some competition, but every time it seems as if they will, it turns out that the potential competition just...isn't.

Shari

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by shalym

I feel like Amazon is the only company that really cares about ebooks.

Well, actually, I think Kobo cares about them, but unfortunately, it doesn't seem as if Rakuten really does...

I've had that feeling too.

I think that's why a B&N/Kobo marriage made sense to so many people. B&N could have pushed sales of the devices in North America and Kobo would do a better job behind the scenes job of maintaining the devices and selling ebooks than B&N did. At least that's the theory.

It would have been a better fit than Walmart/Kobo. Though Walmart could have been a great partner, if they were interested in being a great partner. From the outside looking in, you can see that they just kinda dumped ebooks on a shelf like any other product with no fanfare or care.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I've had that feeling too.

I think that's why a B&N/Kobo marriage made sense to so many people. B&N could have pushed sales of the devices in North America and Kobo would do a better job behind the scenes job of maintaining the devices and selling ebooks than B&N did. At least that's the theory.

It would have been a better fit than Walmart/Kobo. Though Walmart could have been a great partner, if they were interested in being a great partner. From the outside looking in, you can see that they just kinda dumped ebooks on a shelf like any other product with no fanfare or care.

That's pretty much how Walmart does things, they like to push as much of the expense and work onto their "partners" as possible. It's how they minimize cost. Of course, Walmart's new push to have a legit online presence is a whole different mindset. You have to spend money to build it out first. It's not just about having the best price with minimal functionality. It will be interesting to see if they can pull it off. Walmart isn't the only company pushing to get online and compete with Amazon, Home Depot is doing a bit push to improve their online presence as well.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

That's pretty much how Walmart does things, they like to push as much of the expense and work onto their "partners" as possible. It's how they minimize cost. Of course, Walmart's new push to have a legit online presence is a whole different mindset. You have to spend money to build it out first. It's not just about having the best price with minimal functionality. It will be interesting to see if they can pull it off.

I'd say the answer there (at least with ebooks) is clearly now, they cannot.

An Amazon-like store with brick and mortar locations seems like such an obvious strength. Yet two giants (B&N and Walmart) have floundered. Probably because running brick and mortar is a different mindset than running a virtual store.

On the upside, even if Kobo didn't get the partner they were hoping for, the Walmart partnership isn't likely to have caused any harm. Their presence in the US was 0. Anything is better than that.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I'd say the answer there (at least with ebooks) is clearly now, they cannot.

An Amazon-like store with brick and mortar locations seems like such an obvious strength. Yet two giants (B&N and Walmart) have floundered. Probably because running brick and mortar is a different mindset than running a virtual store.

On the upside, even if Kobo didn't get the partner they were hoping for, the Walmart partnership isn't likely to have caused any harm. Their presence in the US was 0. Anything is better than that.

Kobo's problem is their MO is to offload as much of the local marketing on the local partner. If the local partner is big and/or diligent, they prosper. If not, well they ran the race...

In the US they have not had a good run of partners: Borders went belly up before the ink was dry on the deal, the ABA bookstores were halfhearted "partners" unimpressed with the size of the kickbacks, RAKUTEN.COM doesn't even feature Kobo, and now Walmart, they of the fire and forget "marketing"...

They haven't been able to get much visibility or mainstream mindshare in the US. And it certainly doesn't help that outside ebook circles any ebook reader is identified as a "kindle". No mindshare, no sales. Amazon gets a lot of sales by default.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

That's pretty much how Walmart does things, they like to push as much of the expense and work onto their "partners" as possible. It's how they minimize cost. Of course, Walmart's new push to have a legit online presence is a whole different mindset.

You have to spend your money where it counts. The new online effort benefits nearly all of Walmart's customers. Nearly all of them at least as there is probably still a fringe group not willing to shop online. Avid readers among your typical Walmart customer? If there ever was a fringe group, that would be it. Occasional readers that need a dedicated reading device that is not a phone or tablet? Sure why not. Except what compelling reason would they have to switch?

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

That's pretty much how Walmart does things, they like to push as much of the expense and work onto their "partners" as possible..

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Kobo's problem is their MO is to offload as much of the local marketing on the local partner.

So two companies whose SOP is to push marketing on their partners teamed up and the result has been no marketing? Who could have predicted that?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

So two companies whose SOP is to push marketing on their partners teamed up and the result has been no marketing? Who could have predicted that?

Jeff Bezos. Word is he strained his ribcage laughing when he heard of the partnership.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

So two companies whose SOP is to push marketing on their partners teamed up and the result has been no marketing? Who could have predicted that?

A lot of companies like to try to push expenses off to someone else. That's accountant thinking, just like it's accountant thinking to look at customer service as a cost center to be outsourced rather than a vital link to keeping your customer base happy.

My take with Kobo and Walmart is that Kobo simply isn't very serious about competing in the American market. Walmart is a mechanism for allowing potential customers who want to handle a Kobo eReader before buying to do so. If they want to get serious about competing in the US market, then they will need to improve their eBook store quite a bit, both from the stand point of selection as well as usability.

Apple beefed up their eBook store, but I think that is going to be an evolution over the next several years. It's a big step in the right direction, but they haven't really given me a reason to buy from them rather than the Kindle store.