BN says Nook line is its best selling ever -- neglects to release the numbers

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

So what is the important thing O mister master of all things Mobileread? What is it?

The important thing is that people are reading more.

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The important thing is that people are reading more.

Agreed. But we don't know how much more because both Amazon and BN neglect to include that information in their press releases.

[RockdaMan]

I'm done toying with you kind sir. Back to the matter at hand...a nice roundup:

B&N tries to match Amazon’s vagueness with its own vagueness -
Nook owners bought or downloaded 1 million eBooks on Christmas Day. That’s not very vague – but do hold on. The figure includes an unspecified percentage of free ebooks – less than 50%, and more than 0%.
It claims 20% market share.
Nook is now B&N’s best selling product.
Nook Color was B&N’s most-gifted product.

More details at Reuters including the claim that B&N has sold 2 million Nooks so far, and Amazon has sold 6 million Kindle so far. Shame on Reuters for listing precise figures – how very uncouth.

It also seems a little hard to believe that B&N has sold only 1/3rd as many eReaders as Amazon. There’s Nook Color, and there’s B&N’s retail advantage.

http://ireaderreview.com/2010/12/30/...ell-as-kindle/

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

No, the nook color is not a dog. It's a substandard tablet. All Android tablets are currently substandard. There won't be a decent Android tablet until after Android 3.0 is released.

What does "substandard" mean, in this context? A rooted NC seems to me (from what I've read) to just be a tablet with standard Android on it. Android seems to hold its own against iOS...

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

Agreed. But we don't know how much more because both Amazon and BN neglect to include that information in their press releases.

Sony doesn't release numbers either. Nor does Kobo, nor does Apple, nor does Pocketbook. So really, nobody is releasing sales numbers.

There is one company I can give you some numbers for. Astak. They sold no readers at all during the month of December.

[jasonkchapman]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

B&N is not neglecting to release sales figures. Nobody is doing it. They aren't releasing on purpose. So this thread and that article are well, useless.

And we all know there's never been a useless thread on MR before--or even a useless comment.

[MV64]

I'm confused. What else has BN ever released that could challenge the nook for its "best selling ever?"

A book? Because seriously...a 150-250 dollar device that sells thousands would easily surpass individual book sales from one company.

[leebase]

Apple releases sales numbers all the time.

Lee

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by leebase

Apple releases sales numbers all the time.

Lee

Thats only because Jobs really, really likes the idea of making Ballmer hurl chairs around his office.

[OtterBooks]

darnit if I don't get those numbers soon I'm gonna set myself on fire.

[Ravensknight]

Originally Posted by OtterBooks

darnit if I don't get those numbers soon I'm gonna set myself on fire.

Can I bring s'mores?

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by boswd

but the difference is we know it's a marketing ploy, unlike all the Kindle owners who read Amazon's press release and then get all wide and dreamy eyed....

With all due respect: ~fail~

Positing that B&N's customer base is a group of savvy insiders, whereas Amazon's are a bunch of automatons or fanboys, is charmingly ludicrous.

They're both doing exactly the same thing, and should be held to the same standard.

[jasonkchapman]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

They're both doing exactly the same thing, and should be held to the same standard.

This!

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

With all due respect: ~fail~

Positing that B&N's customer base is a group of savvy insiders, whereas Amazon's are a bunch of automatons or fanboys, is charmingly ludicrous.

They're both doing exactly the same thing, and should be held to the same standard.

Yes and no.

The brand that everyone has heard of is Kindle. The easy choice is to go along with the crowd and buy the most popular device--Kindle.

The assumption is that people who've decided to go against the easy choice do so because they have done more research and consciously decided to go in another direction. So, yes, generally speaking I do think non-Kindle buyers have the edge in savviness.

[Richey79]

Originally Posted by Catlady

The brand that everyone has heard of is Kindle. The easy choice is to go along with the crowd and buy the most popular device--Kindle.

Exactly.

I don't know how it is in America, but in Europe, the vast majority of people who don't particularly interest themselves in both reading and tech refer to the devices not as 'ereaders', but 'kindles'. Think of the time when a vacuum cleaner was simply referred to as a 'Hoover'.

Of course, we can't buy a Nook Color if we wanted to, but if another manufacturer wants to seriously compete with Amazon on dedicated ereading device market share, they're going to have to stump up one heck of a marketing budget. B&N's best chance to challenge Amazon will be simply to hope that more people will prefer something that looks like a tablet pc than an ereader.

Of course none of this has anything to do with the quality of the devices. Mind you, the market share of the various companies also has little to do with that.