I went to Best Buy to look at the NC today - Page 2

kilmar · 01-04-2011, 10:44 AM

My local BN (Financial Center, NYC) has a fairly large section with about 8 nooks and 12 nook colors to play with.

AbsentSpoon · 01-04-2011, 11:13 AM

Yea My Local BN has a display set up right in front of the doors with at least two NookColors to play with and a couple Nook Wifi/3G.

I went to best buy the other day to look for a new case for my NC and the NC they had on display there had a broken screen, and it was so bad that three was actually a piece of glass missing from the display screen, almost like someone went unnoticed as they broke the screen and dug around in the LCD.

jswinden · 01-05-2011, 12:26 PM

Its kind of interesting to see the divergence of business models between the big three reader companies.

Amazon seems to rely mostly on Internet sales through their immensely popular Amazon.com website and they do quite a bit of advertising on TV and other media. They do sell through some retail stores, but as we know those stores have thousands of other items, and readers are just one more item placed on a shelf in hopes that it sells. Amazon's Kindle sales model seems to work as they are reportedly selling millions of them.

B&N is a Book store chain so their focus is on books. They seem to emphasize their Nooks in their retail stores and at their website and push them hard. They sell Nooks through some other retail stores as well. I don't know their sales figures, but I suspect the NOOKcolor is out selling the Sony Readers.

Sony makes thousands of products and they seem to not really emphasize their readers much at all. It is almost like they were using the Reader division as a tax write off! Sony's advertising is minimal and I suspect their philosophy of if we build it they will buy it is not producing a lot of sales. Again I have no data, but gut instinct tells me Sony is probably selling only a small fraction of the number of readers that Amazon or B&N do. Like the other two, Sony sells through other retail stores. But Sony seems to emphasize their website sells and let's face it, the Sony website is not as big a draw as Amazon's or B&N's. And even though Sony owns a chain of retail stores, these stores are few and far between and from what I'm reading even the Sony retail stores don't push their readers.

PegS · 01-05-2011, 12:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jswinden

Its kind of interesting to see the divergence of business models between the big three reader companies....

Sony makes thousands of products and they seem to not really emphasize their readers much at all. It is almost like they were using the Reader division as a tax write off! Sony's advertising is minimal and I suspect their philosophy of if we build it they will buy it is not producing a lot of sales.

I understand Sony is a big seller in Europe, so I wonder if that subsidizes their American presence?

cutterjohn42 · 01-05-2011, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PegS

I understand Sony is a big seller in Europe, so I wonder if that subsidizes their American presence?

I bought a Sony eInk reader primarily becuase I couldn't get a hanlin v3(or rebadge soon) but I could run down to Borders and pick up the Sony...

Has really good build quality... survived several drops, and came with a case, but no charger other than the USB cable which is fine for my uses...

...now they're just expensive v. almost everyone else...

Guyon · 01-05-2011, 04:11 PM

I went to buy a NC at Best Buy before Christmas to buy a Kindle, and saw the NC for the first time. It had so many features that I was looking for that I came home to research, finally buying the NC instead of the Kindle. I am now very happy with that decision.

On a side note, during my presales purchase I called B&N and visited their store to ask some questions. I did not get 1 question answered and am VERY disappointed with B&N lack of knowage on there product.
Love the product, no thrilled with the seller.

kevinrs · 01-06-2011, 03:07 AM

Went into BN, and my sister's NC wasn't showing the in store content, or the smoothie day, while my nook was showing both, the rep at the nook counter had no idea what we were talking about, there was supposed to be someone in the store who would know, but we didn't find them. Just before we left I saw the content was on the display one at the counter. Her nookcolor was still on 1.0.0 I found later, not sure if that was the issue.

waffleman · 01-06-2011, 09:39 AM

I purchased my NC in Dec at Best Buy. They actually had a salesperson standing at the e-reader display, ready to answer any/all questions. I was pleasantly surprised, though I did not test their knowlege base since I already had done my research, knew what I was going to purchase , and was in a hurry.

The smoothie special has never poped up on my NC while at BN store, yet it's updated firmware. The ones in the store would display the correct special. Not sure why would not show up, but the coffee shop honored the special by me just waving my NC around.

kevinrs · 01-07-2011, 02:11 AM

the smoothie is over anyway, the content you cannot access unless in the store she was interested in too, but it didn't show either.

Guyon · 01-07-2011, 09:07 AM

I went twice to get the smoothie at B&N in Cranberry PA and both time they were out of the mix. Wish there was a sign as I waited 10 min each time.

01-05-2011, 12:26 PM	#18
jswinden Nameless Being	Its kind of interesting to see the divergence of business models between the big three reader companies. Amazon seems to rely mostly on Internet sales through their immensely popular Amazon.com website and they do quite a bit of advertising on TV and other media. They do sell through some retail stores, but as we know those stores have thousands of other items, and readers are just one more item placed on a shelf in hopes that it sells. Amazon's Kindle sales model seems to work as they are reportedly selling millions of them. B&N is a Book store chain so their focus is on books. They seem to emphasize their Nooks in their retail stores and at their website and push them hard. They sell Nooks through some other retail stores as well. I don't know their sales figures, but I suspect the NOOKcolor is out selling the Sony Readers. Sony makes thousands of products and they seem to not really emphasize their readers much at all. It is almost like they were using the Reader division as a tax write off! Sony's advertising is minimal and I suspect their philosophy of if we build it they will buy it is not producing a lot of sales. Again I have no data, but gut instinct tells me Sony is probably selling only a small fraction of the number of readers that Amazon or B&N do. Like the other two, Sony sells through other retail stores. But Sony seems to emphasize their website sells and let's face it, the Sony website is not as big a draw as Amazon's or B&N's. And even though Sony owns a chain of retail stores, these stores are few and far between and from what I'm reading even the Sony retail stores don't push their readers. Last edited by jswinden; 01-05-2011 at 12:30 PM.

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01-04-2011, 10:44 AM	#16
kilmar Connoisseur Posts: 65 Karma: 500 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: nook color, nook, Sony PRS-700	My local BN (Financial Center, NYC) has a fairly large section with about 8 nooks and 12 nook colors to play with.

01-04-2011, 11:13 AM	#17
AbsentSpoon Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: NookColor	Yea My Local BN has a display set up right in front of the doors with at least two NookColors to play with and a couple Nook Wifi/3G. I went to best buy the other day to look for a new case for my NC and the NC they had on display there had a broken screen, and it was so bad that three was actually a piece of glass missing from the display screen, almost like someone went unnoticed as they broke the screen and dug around in the LCD.

01-05-2011, 04:11 PM	#21
Guyon Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: Nook Color	I went to buy a NC at Best Buy before Christmas to buy a Kindle, and saw the NC for the first time. It had so many features that I was looking for that I came home to research, finally buying the NC instead of the Kindle. I am now very happy with that decision. On a side note, during my presales purchase I called B&N and visited their store to ask some questions. I did not get 1 question answered and am VERY disappointed with B&N lack of knowage on there product. Love the product, no thrilled with the seller.

01-06-2011, 03:07 AM	#22
kevinrs Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: nook	Went into BN, and my sister's NC wasn't showing the in store content, or the smoothie day, while my nook was showing both, the rep at the nook counter had no idea what we were talking about, there was supposed to be someone in the store who would know, but we didn't find them. Just before we left I saw the content was on the display one at the counter. Her nookcolor was still on 1.0.0 I found later, not sure if that was the issue.

01-06-2011, 09:39 AM	#23
waffleman Enthusiast Posts: 47 Karma: 10000 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: NookColor	I purchased my NC in Dec at Best Buy. They actually had a salesperson standing at the e-reader display, ready to answer any/all questions. I was pleasantly surprised, though I did not test their knowlege base since I already had done my research, knew what I was going to purchase , and was in a hurry. The smoothie special has never poped up on my NC while at BN store, yet it's updated firmware. The ones in the store would display the correct special. Not sure why would not show up, but the coffee shop honored the special by me just waving my NC around.

01-07-2011, 02:11 AM	#24
kevinrs Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: nook	the smoothie is over anyway, the content you cannot access unless in the store she was interested in too, but it didn't show either.

01-07-2011, 09:07 AM	#25
Guyon Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: Nook Color	I went twice to get the smoothie at B&N in Cranberry PA and both time they were out of the mix. Wish there was a sign as I waited 10 min each time.

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