Will Nook be sold to Rakuten Kobo?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Now, Indigo is a (slightly) different case because they used to own Kobo before selling it to Rakuten.

Minor nit. Chapters/Indigo spun out Kobo as a separate company in 2009 though they did maintain majority ownership. This was well before Kobo was purchased by Rakuten in 2012.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

None of the three is that high.
Figure five-six percent each for Nook and Kobo; Apple, 12-15%.

The last numbers I saw were for mid-2018 and gave Kobo 13.3% share for ereaders in the American market in mid-2018. With Amazon sitting at 83.5% at that time, that leaves 3.2% for Nook, Boox, etc. at that time.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by HLS

Nook is on a better track. I really like my Nook Glowlight 7.8" and we need more competition to the Kindle in the USA. Sorry but no one knows who KOBO is unless you are one of us ( ebook addicts ) I think Nook will be kept. I think now since that company is now in the USA via B&N they will keep the nook for they need an ebook presence in the USA to stay competitive with Amazon. Just my opinion

Nook has been a part of BN and thus in the USA from the first day it launched. Well as much as devices made in China can be anyway.

They might appear to be on a better track, but that's been the general cry from the BN camp for a long time now. It's continued to lose money for BN, I don't think it's actually ever turned a profit on its own.

I'd be surprised if Nook doesn't either get sold, or is just shut down. Though obviously being sold would be better for BN as they're recoup some money that way.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Check the affiliate.conf file. If it reads as below, Chapters/Indigo does get a cut of the ebook sales.

[General]
affiliate=KoboIndigo

that's good to know, glad they still get a cut of the sale

[binaryhermit]

how long before a certain ereader "news" site that claims to be good cites this thread to say that Rakuten is going to buy nook?

EDIT: Is there anything in the whole Nook division of B&N even worth buying for Rakuten anyway?

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by HLS

Nook is on a better track. I really like my Nook Glowlight 7.8" and we need more competition to the Kindle in the USA. Sorry but no one knows who KOBO is unless you are one of us ( ebook addicts ) I think Nook will be kept. I think now since that company is now in the USA via B&N they will keep the nook for they need an ebook presence in the USA to stay competitive with Amazon. Just my opinion

One option is for Kobo and Nook to enter a partnership. Nook devices could just be rebranded Kobos (a shame, as I really like Nook hardware) and there could be some sort of deal between the two on ebook sales.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by HLS

Nook is on a better track. I really like my Nook Glowlight 7.8" and we need more competition to the Kindle in the USA. Sorry but no one knows who KOBO is unless you are one of us ( ebook addicts )

The situation is the opposite in my country - if it weren't for MR, I would never even have heard of Nook, but Kobo is actively ratcheting up its presence, both online abs even in bricks and mortar stores

[Quoth]

Likely the USB idea is stupid, though maybe an option for older ereaders that ONLY have USB, or maybe USB + SD card but no WiFi.

I'm only musing on the basic problem of how does a random bookshop sell ebooks in store. Selling an ereader isn't viable for most and even a Kindle can still be used to read books not bought from Amazon, they'd not risk disabling that unless all other ereaders are gone. Also the unrelated issue of how do people with no internet (or clueless) register and put content on an ereader.

Should forced registration be illegal? Maybe it actually is in EU. The fact that you can use a fake email on Kobo or there is a way using gift voucher on Amazon is irrelevant, you can't setup the Kobo or Kindle without an Internet connection to Amazon or Kobo, using WiFi or a computer App. My dad had to take his Kindle back to the shop to get it registered as he had no idea how to use his WiFi. He does have a computer on broadband, via a cable to the Modem.

Without someone doing something smart there is only going to be Amazon, the Kindle and Kindle apps. Maybe then they'd stop producing Kindles and only provide the Kindle app.

Is there any reason why NO eink reader other than Kindle has the Amazon app, but phones & tablets do? Or is there such a thing officially? Obviously Nook and Kobo would have no interest unless Kindles had ALSO built in Kobo and B&N storefronts as well as Amazon. That won't happen ever unless there is a law like the MS Browser Choice, which either no longer applies, or MS has forgotten.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

Physical bookshops need to do the following:
Sell ebooks in store, via USB transfer. Not via an app, not selling their own brand ereader, but for EVERY ereader, like Smashwords do. No DRM. DRM DOES NOT STOP PIRACY!
Cut out wholesale. There is no place for wholesale today. It's a parasitical business. Publishers MUST sell direct to even the Indy corner bookshop.

Those are not things bookshops can decide to do.
They can't just sell eBooks without DRM, that is up to the publishers.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by DNSB

The last numbers I saw were for mid-2018 and gave Kobo 13.3% share for ereaders in the American market in mid-2018. With Amazon sitting at 83.5% at that time, that leaves 3.2% for Nook, Boox, etc. at that time.

I was talking ebooks, not ereaders.
Buying the Nook customers would be about ebooks; that where Kobo is weakin the US. I quoted Apple and, after all, Apple doesn't sell eink readers.
Buying (Netronix-built) ereaders makes no sense.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

Is there any reason why NO eink reader other than Kindle has the Amazon app, but phones & tablets do? Or is there such a thing officially?

Yes.
And yes.

Back around 2010-ish, Amazon offered to license the app to any eink or tablet vendor that was interested. No takers because the app required (and still does) internet access. Tablets come with wireless but at the time hardly any ereaders did, so tablet makers accepted Amazon's offer but not eink vendors. All were betting on Adobe ADEPT epub which didn't support wireless until a couple years later.

And then B&N switched the ereader pricing model to near cost, which shifted the bulk of ereader profits to the walled garden stores and effectively closed the US market to hardware only ereader vendors. At that point it made little sense to sell ereaders to the US, at all, so tbat out of 42 eink models shown at CES 2010, less than a dozen even showed up.

As noted above, today over 95% of eink readers sold are walled garden readers. All because B&N thought they could undersell Kindle.

Side note: trying to make a bit more money off Kindles, Amazon introduced the ad-supported "Special Offers" Kindles to undercut B&N in advertised pricing, thinking people would prefer to pay $15 (all profit) to get rid of the ads. Turned out the ads weren't obtrusive enough and most people didn't mind. The ad revenue was enough that Amazon expanded ads to the tablets and web and today today tbey are raking in several billions in ad profits. It's not Google/Facebook tens of billions big but, as they say "a billion here, a billion there, soon it adds up to real money".

B&N did Amazon a lot of favors that year.

[Quoth]

Also you can only buy adfree version Kindles here from Amazon. The instore models seem to all have adverts.

If you deregister a Kindle and sell it, even two years later, the new owner gets the adverts and has to pay the Amazon "fee" to turn them off. Is that even legal? Mobile Operators have to unlock for free in EU once initial period is up. I think usually a year. Though Tesco claims that if you are PAYG / Pre-pay you have to have used enough credit. But you can buy the phone and credit with cash anonymously. How do they know? Maybe IMEI (phone) or IMSI (Sim) or both?

But why would ANY ereader maker with their own store (Kobo, Nook, Tolino?, Sony in the past) want an Amazon Kindle App anyway, unless they got a cut of each sale? Hence no-one took up the Amazon "offer". Amazon will doom ereaders depending on a particular store. I think only niche models offering something Amazon doesn't have will survive. Not many people have a Kindle and a Kobo, never buy from Kobo and read their Amazon purchases on the Kobo (or some other not-Kindle). DRM is evil, did I mention it's only about market control/divide and conquer/Consumer lock in and doesn't affect industrial/commercial piracy at all?

It's not just USA. People only not buy Kindle in Countries with big Amazon sales if they are specialists, hate Amazon or some other niche reason. I know more than ten other people, well, locally that use eink, they all have only Kindles except me, and I have two Kindles, three Kobo, a Nook, Binatones and a Sony.

Most casual ebook readers use a phone. Second is tablets. The eink is third and I'd be surprised if in countries where Amazon is popular that the Kindle isn't overwhelmingly #1 in sales. Though less local retail sell Kobo or Kindle now. Possibly only Argos for Kobo. Tesco stopped doing Kindle. I don't know if Currys and Harvey Norman still do as I've stopped visiting them. Ireland retail clothes, electrical, DIY and other things are dominated by UK chains. Tesco is neck and neck with local Dunnes and Musgrave owned stores, mostly mini-markets. Lidl and Aldi are about equal next biggest. Irish wholesale is dominated by UK middle men. A lot of that is historical, to before 1921 independence.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Those are not things bookshops can decide to do.
They can't just sell eBooks without DRM, that is up to the publishers.

They can refuse to sell DRM encumbered ebooks. Remember DRM is NOT about stopping piracy. Apple ended DRM on music. The Publishers would soon drop it. It prevents users moving content between their own platforms. It benefits Amazon the most, who now ignore the Publisher "no DRM" check if you get the ebook in KFX format.

Home taping didn't kill music sales.
MP3 sharing didn't kill music sales.
The high price of CDs did. An old release they've made the money on can be x2 to x4 the price of a DVD! Or more than the cost of average paperback. That, not streaming or poor content is what has killed CD sales.

[Deskisamess]

Also you can only buy adfree version Kindles here from Amazon. The instore models seem to all have adverts.

You can still pay to remove them. The hardware is the same.

If you deregister a Kindle and sell it, even two years later, the new owner gets the adverts and has to pay the Amazon "fee" to turn them off.

A simple call takes care of this, if it happens, for no cost. I don't recall this being much of a problem being talked about on the old Amazon forums. Those forums were very active in the 2009-2017 years.

It's been a while since I had a Fire tablet, but I had other ebook apps on the Fires that I side-loaded from 1Mobile or Getjar. nook and kobo both, for example, before I had Calibre to format shift.

[maddz]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

Possibly only Argos for Kobo. Tesco stopped doing Kindle. I don't know if Currys and Harvey Norman still do as I've stopped visiting them. Ireland retail clothes, electrical, DIY and other things are dominated by UK chains. Tesco is neck and neck with local Dunnes and Musgrave owned stores, mostly mini-markets. Lidl and Aldi are about equal next biggest. Irish wholesale is dominated by UK middle men. A lot of that is historical, to before 1921 independence.

In the UK:

Currys/PC World: in store they only have Kindles. Basic Kobos are available online.
Argos: Kindles and basic Kobos are available online. Possibly bigger stores have Kindles in stock, but generally if you want to pick one up from store you need to pre-order.
John Lewis: in store it's Kindles for most stores. For anything else, you need to go to Oxford Street. Online they have basic Kobos.
Tesco: I think they more or less dropped Kindles - they went the Hudl route (basically an Android tablet) a couple of years ago.

I went through this a couple of months ago when I was looking to buy a Forma 32GB. That's only available direct from Kobo unless an Amazon reseller has one in stock (but it's usually more expensive). Really, I wanted to try it out because of the larger form-factor, but it was too much of a hassle to take an extended lunch break and go to the Oxford Street John Lewis.

Android eInk devices are niche in the UK; you really have to do your research and hope something is in stock on eBay or Amazon. I reckon 99% of people won't bother - they'll get whatever is available from Currys/PC World or Argos or more likely just use an app on their phone. If they need something with a bit more oomph (e.g. for class work) they'll get an iPad or Android tablet.