Waterstones e-approach....

[carpetmojo]

I visited my local [fairly large and busy) Waterstones yesterday, the first time for a couple of months or so, and was mildly surprised to see absolutely no display or advertising for e-services or devices, which I found interesting.
And this was a store that, a year ago, had a very large section of readers and literature.
Any other reports from outside the West Country ?
Or, indeed anywhere else....

[Bilbo1967]

I noticed a couple of months ago that our local Waterstones, in the Midlands, had lost its Sony e-reader display as well.

Was there last weekend and it seems to have been permanently replaced. No advertising at all that I could see of the Waterstones e-book site either.

[scrapking]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

I noticed a couple of months ago that our local Waterstones, in the Midlands, had lost its Sony e-reader display as well.

Was there last weekend and it seems to have been permanently replaced. No advertising at all that I could see of the Waterstones e-book site either.

There are persistent rumours that Waterstones will be supporting the Nook (which, if so, would make the UK the only place outside the U.S. where the Nook is supported). Oddly these same rumours often refer to Waterstones as the biggest bookstore chain in the UK, but Wikipedia suggests the WHSmith chain is several times larger (Waterstones = 296 stores, WHSmith = 580 High Street plus another 400 in airports, etc.). I'm in Canada so can't really say, do you guys have any comment?

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by scrapking

There are persistent rumours that Waterstones will be supporting the Nook (which, if so, would make the UK the only place outside the U.S. where the Nook is supported). Oddly these same rumours often refer to Waterstones as the biggest bookstore chain in the UK, but Wikipedia suggests the WHSmith chain is several times larger (Waterstones = 296 stores, WHSmith = 580 High Street plus another 400 in airports, etc.). I'm in Canada so can't really say, do you guys have any comment?

Waterstones has nearly 500 stores (wiki accuracy strikes again ) and sells books, WHS used to be a book store but now is more of a gift and newspaper store with even the largest outlets having a relatively poor display of books compared to what they used to have... they also vary considerably and size and are rated as three different grades of store with the lowest grade stocking a much smaller range than the highest...

Waterstones are rumoured to be having their own badged eReader in the first quarter of 2012 but as to its origin...

[gari189]

It was widely reported back in Sept that Waterstones were developing their own ereader

This is from an online article in Bookseller

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/wa...-e-reader.html

Waterstone's is to launch its own e-reader in 2012 inspired by Barnes & Noble's Nook device.

Waterstone's m.d. James Daunt has spoken to BBC Radio 4's "You & Yours" programme, on the edition broadcast today (9th September) at 12 p.m., telling the programme he wants to rival Amazon's Kindle.

The Waterstone's chief said the project is "well down the planning line", and would launch in spring next year.

On the programme, Daunt said: "We in Waterstone's need to offer you a digital reader which is at least as good, and preferably substantially better, than that of our internet rival, and you will have a much better buying experience purchasing your books through us."

Daunt added he would be "disappointed" if Waterstone's couldn't come up with a digital offer that would at least match Amazon, if not be "substantially better" than it.

As a consequence Waterstones removed their ereader displays before Xmas and sold many of their ereaders and accessories through their Ebay outlet. Hopefully the Waterstones ereader will appear shortly