When is the big update coming??

[tubemonkey]

I like titles without the tags. A nook is a nook.

[AzB]

Originally Posted by pl001

I wouldn't call it a big gamble. It's more like their only choice. They can't realisitically expect to compete with the likes of Samsung, Dell, HP, etc, etc on a long term basis. Or even through the end of this year. Their only chance is to is to offer a different experience than the major manufacturers and capitalize on that.

Even then, their future is questionable. They are going to have to rely on their bookstore and good reading applications to survive. In my opinion anyway.

I don't think they're trying to compete in the hardware market. What I meant is that imho, they're trying to get a lock on the selling of digital print media. They sell the Nook at a low price, making very little, and the Nook is a proprietary device that encourages the user to buy from B&N while discouraging buying from other retailers. The gamble is that if it works, they get the largest slice of the market share of digital print media. If it fails, they're basically hosed because they've put most of their eggs in one basket.

An approach that would be safer, but has a lot less potential for dominating the market would be to open the Nook up not only as a tablet, but also as a multi format reader, and sell it for a larger profit margin. It's also possible that they could make more money selling audio and video for the Nook as well, but only if it's made fully functional.

Again, this is entirely my opinion and is based only on my wildly imaginative speculation.

Az

[leday]

Originally Posted by AzB

An approach that would be safer, but has a lot less potential for dominating the market would be to open the Nook up not only as a tablet, but also as a multi format reader,

Az

But....isn't the NC already a multiformat reader (accepting epub, pdf, doc, etc)? In addition, I don't really consider the NC to be proprietary, locking me into purchasing from the BN store. I have 325 books on my NC and NONE of them was purchased from the BN store, but instead they were purchased from sources like the Sony Store, Books on Board, and other stores.

[Mark_O]

Originally Posted by ZeroTX

We've been talked up by B&N staff and others about the upcoming update, so where is it?? It's January now. Did they mean January 31st? Where's our pinch-zoom browser, our app store, etc? I'm ready now! Even for a beta version.

There are a lot of misconceptions out there about what's coming for the NC, as gtriever indicated. Q1 of 2011 does not mean January, no matter how much wishful thinking you might indulge in. And unfortunately, B&N staffers in store may not have the most accurate information, and may be depending on rumors like everyone else.

First off, there's not AN update coming, there are several. All in or around Q1. So when you ask, "When is THE big update coming?", you're asking the wrong question. The most imminent is 1.1, which is primarily focused on getting 3rd-party developers what they need to build and test their apps on the NC. Even users should be happy about that, because even though it may not impact them directly and immediately, 3rd-party devs are where a large pool of their future apps will be coming from.

Whether 1.1 will include anything else, such as improvements in on-board apps to resolve well-known issues is anybody's guess, but there's been no such commitment. That would be great, but it's not the priority for 1.1. However, 1.1 will have neither Flash nor App Store support. Flash, along with Adobe AIR support will come later, with the 1.2 update, which upgrades to Android 2.2. While 2.2 does have both performance and reliability improvements, Flash is the primary motivator there.

Lastly, the App Store will come with update 1.3. Since the commitment there was Q1, I wouldn't be surprised to see it materialize on Mar31, or even the 1st week of April. B&N has some ambitious goals, and they can't all be achieved simultaneously. Also, the B&N Nook App Store will be a curated marketplace, to ensure the highest quality experience for end-users. It will contain apps that have been tested on and tweaked for the NC, and known to work well there.

Throwing the doors open to the general Android marketplace would be a big mistake for several reasons. One is that whether a specific app worked or not would be a crap-shoot. And the other is that things that didn't work might also cause problems for things that did. And with no commitment from their developers, not only might those problems never be fixed, but NOOKcolor owners would have no where to go for assistance with them.

That scenario is good for no one... not Nook owners, and not B&N.

- Mark

P.S. I'm not privy to any internal B&N information. I'm just an ordinary NC owner like everyone else here, who also happens to be evaluating doing some development on the platform. I've just spent a bit more time collating and analyzing the tidbits of information that are floating around in various venues. And the above conclusions are the result of that.

[JoeSchmoo]

Here's some tidbits, from another site. Add a grain or two of salt.

Another interesting development from the Nook Developer forum.
This is what Ted Patrick, the community manager, wrote regarding timelines -
1. Enable developer mode in 1.1 and new SDK – Jan 2011
2. Create ingestion, approval, merchant support for developer with backend systems – Feb 2011
3. Deliver Android 2.2+ Flash/AIR support – Feb 2011
4. Launch application support on NOOKcolor – March 2011

This seems to suggest that –
1. In January 2011, we’ll see Nook Dev team add the ability to test Nook Color Apps on the Nook Color. This should really help.
2. In February 2011, developers will be able to upload their apps for testing. Also, backend systems and the store pages will be setup.
3. In March 2011, the first Nook Color apps will come out.

March, 2011 would mean the very end of Q1, 2011. However, given that the Nook Color was released in November 2010, this is very impressive.
Since there are 25 developer partners working on launch apps, and since there is a decent amount of interest in making Nook Apps amongst developers at the Nook Developer forums, it’s possible that the Nook App Store debuts with 50 to 100 apps.

[robertc88]

I appreciate the info that has been given and the NC is looking better and better for the price.

I don't want to start a new thread for this question and I hope it doesn't throw the discussion off topic but is there plans for a NC with 3G? Reason being that would also play into me buying a unit down the road.

[KryptoNyte]

We're not currently aware of a 3G Nook Color. The B&N letter to the FCC clearly indicated that 3G was "permanently disabled." We can confirm this from the NC tear-down photos where there is a 3G modem pad on the motherboard, but the modem chip is absent.

I would guess that the issues that surface when adding this feature aren't really hindered by the hardware, but rather, from a business perspective, how to handle data plans and the costs associated with the amount of data that a tablet can push. Basically, it's the same situation that has pushed pretty much every other 3G [tablet] data plan to kill their "unlimited" data option.

I picked up a Virgin Mobile 3G hotspot at Walmart, and immediately signed up for their $40/month "unlimited" data service, only to receive an email 3 days later that this service has now been terminated, and replaced by a 5 gig/month limit. This was very disappointed for them to change the rules mid-game, but it appears that every other data plan provider has done the same thing.

[ZeroTX]

Thanks for all the great replies. I've considered "rooting," but have yet to figure out what apps would be available if I did that.

I'd mainly like natively supported (Google Apps) Email and Calendar support. Is that a realistic possibility with the either rooted NCs and/or will B&N put native apps for Email and Calendar in the update??

[SCION]

When you root you get Google email and calendar.

[Cpl Punishment]

The update everyone is waiting for will probably brick your "rooted" color Nooks anyway !!!

[SCION]

Originally Posted by Cpl Punishment

The update everyone is waiting for will probably brick your "rooted" color Nooks anyway !!!

It won't if you disabled auto updates.

[orb9220]

STOP! it People! About the rooting thingy!
Just got mine a few days ago and trying to Hold Off until the return window expires.

And You Are Not Helping! :-)
.

[TheJohnNewton]

"Where's our pinch-zoom browser, our app store, etc?"

You can have all that now at the android market, any of the alternative markets, or on the net. You just have to install the software. I do look forward to having the option of Flash support with 2.2 and to see apps actually made for the 7 inch screen as opposed to a phone size screen.

Originally Posted by TheJohnNewton

...and to see apps actually made for the 7 inch screen as opposed to a phone size screen.

Me too! It seems like a waste of time to root in my case until there are enough true tablet apps available that appeal to me.

[merlin5353]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Me too! It seems like a waste of time to root in my case until there are enough true tablet apps available that appeal to me.

Ditto!