NYT: B&N planning big push to increase Nook sales

[bgalbrecht]

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

B&N's response is to create their own proprietary DRM to lock people into their store and their device. Now these two unevolved entities are battling each other like dinosaurs while consumers debate which side they need to ally themselves with.

Only partly true. B&N's DRM was always planned to be part of the Adobe Mobile ePub reader, it's just that so far, only the PanDigital Novel is the only other device using the latest version of the Adobe software. There's no incentives for any readers tied to another store, like Sony or Kobo to upgrade the firmware on existing readers, but I expect new readers will support the B&N
DRM out of the box.

[bgalbrecht]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

In contrast, Kindles are in Target and HMS Host (111 airports around the world)

The last I heard was that Target was only selling the Kindle in Florida and the downtown Minneapolis Minnesota flagship store. It doesn't show up on the Target website for me, either.

[Maggie Leung]

Originally Posted by bgalbrecht

The last I heard was that Target was only selling the Kindle in Florida and the downtown Minneapolis Minnesota flagship store. It doesn't show up on the Target website for me, either.

My area Targets carry Kindles. I'm not in Minnesota or Florida.

They probably took Kindle offline, because they're going to start selling the new version.

[TallMomof2]

Originally Posted by bgalbrecht

The last I heard was that Target was only selling the Kindle in Florida and the downtown Minneapolis Minnesota flagship store. It doesn't show up on the Target website for me, either.

The 4 Target stores I've been to in Northern Virginia all have the Kindle for sale on endcaps.

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by bgalbrecht

The last I heard was that Target was only selling the Kindle in Florida and the downtown Minneapolis Minnesota flagship store. It doesn't show up on the Target website for me, either.

According to the press releases at the time, as at Apr 25, Kindles were to be in 102 Florida Target stores - http://www.businesswire.com/news/hom...onary-Wireless
and a few weeks later, as at June 6, this was expanded to 1,740 Target stores nationwide - http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...-correct-.html.

A few weeks after that, Amazon ran out of Kindle 2 units.

[Rebo]

It should be noted that the return policy of Target is not competitive. They offer 3 month return if the item is unopened or new in the box.
The is not up to par compared to the no hassle return offered by B&N, Best Buy or even Amazon itself.

[ProfCrash]

I have read from folks that they have been able to easily return Kindles at Target and that Target refunded people the price difference when the K2 dropped in price by $70. It could be that Target was required to accept Amazon's return policy for Kindles in order to sell them there.

[Ajax]

Originally Posted by Rebo

It should be noted that the return policy of Target is not competitive. They offer 3 month return if the item is unopened or new in the box.
The is not up to par compared to the no hassle return offered by B&N, Best Buy or even Amazon itself.

I know Target normally will do a full refund on electronics that are "defective". I'm not sure if that also applies to kindles or not, it's definitely worth trying though.

[Rebo]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

I have read from folks that they have been able to easily return Kindles at Target and that Target refunded people the price difference when the K2 dropped in price by $70. It could be that Target was required to accept Amazon's return policy for Kindles in order to sell them there.

I was interested in the Kindle and was going to buy it from Target. I generally do not buy any gadget from internet without first trying that out because mailing it back can be a hassle. I specifically asked Target about their return policy on the Kindle and they told me it is 3 months for any item that is new, unused and unopened. I ended up buying the Nook from Best Buy since they offer a 30 day no question asked return policy. I am loving my Nook and glad that I bought it.

I believe one of the advantages that retails store over internet is the convenience for the customers to try out and return the merchandize. If Target would have adopted Amazon's return policy on the kindle, I probably would have bought the kindle and happily kept it too.