Barnes and Noble Financials

[ProfCrash]

Kobo is not a well known name but seems to be making headway in the countries it is entering. It has the ePub advantage in that it can be used at libraries and it is competitively priced with the Kindle. BN needs to get into the international game if it wants the Nook to survive.

It was not easy for Amazon to go international, it took a few years. The number of country specific stores is still pretty small.

Kobo is taking it country by country.

My point? A less well known company can make it happen. BN had a possible in with Waterstone and blew it. Going at this rate, the Nook will not be able to compete because Amazon and Kobo beat them to the punch. It might be hard but they have to find a way of doing it.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

My point? A less well known company can make it happen. BN had a possible in with Waterstone and blew it. Going at this rate, the Nook will not be able to compete because Amazon and Kobo beat them to the punch. It might be hard but they have to find a way of doing it.

I'm not sure the window is totally closed for B&N to expand internationally--MS *will* be distribbuting the PC Reading app worldwide--but B&N is going to need local content in those markets beyond whatever global english content they can muster.
Given that most countries should have at least one local-only player to compete with the aspiring global players (Amazon, Rakuten/Kobo, Google, and Sony) there will still be room for single-market players and Nook might survive as a US-only player. It *is* a big market, after all.

More concerning at this point is: How come B&N can't make a profit out of Nook's 25% of the US ebook market? Where is all that money going?

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

I'm not sure the window is totally closed for B&N to expand internationally--MS *will* be distribbuting the PC Reading app worldwide--but B&N is going to need local content in those markets beyond whatever global english content they can muster.
Given that most countries should have at least one local-only player to compete with the aspiring global players (Amazon, Rakuten/Kobo, Google, and Sony) there will still be room for single-market players and Nook might survive as a US-only player. It *is* a big market, after all.

More concerning at this point is: How come B&N can't make a profit out of Nook's 25% of the US ebook market? Where is all that money going?

BN spent $200M developing the Nook, according to Ken Auletta in an article in the New Yorker. That's one answer.

[taming]

If I were B&N, the Google tablet announcement yesterday would have me very worried. Google may have had Kindle Fire in their sights, but at least Kindle users have huge investments in the Amazon platform (in the US, at least). Does anyone actually feel that same loyalty to B&N?

[fjtorres]

Their employees and the publishig industry insiders.

Brand loyaty is a flimsy thing to bet your company on. Just ask Sony.

[GreenMonkey]

Originally Posted by taming

If I were B&N, the Google tablet announcement yesterday would have me very worried. Google may have had Kindle Fire in their sights, but at least Kindle users have huge investments in the Amazon platform (in the US, at least). Does anyone actually feel that same loyalty to B&N?

I'd far rather buy books from a book-centric company (like B&N or Amazon) than Google or (shudder) Apple.

That said I buy very little from either thanks to DRM on everything.

If I do go to buy a DRM'd book, I definitely go with B&N - I prefer native epub and there's no bookstore I'd rather go to for epub (except for Smashwords/Fictionwise for non-DRM epub).