Unintentional iPad competitor makes up 50% of tablet market

[=X=]

Sometimes the biggest competitor can come form the darnest of places. There is no denying that the nook has a strong following due to it's great hardware and excellent price point. Many have bought the nook for a true color screen to enhance reading many have bought the nook because it's a cheap tablet.

From Digitimes

With a clear differentiation to Apple's iPads in display size, targeted market and pricing, the Nook Color, priced at US$249, has actually taken up over 50% of the iPad-like market in the North America market, indicated the sources. (more...)

Note how electronista hints at how many folks have bought the device simply because hacking it was so easy to accomplish, and hence resulting in a full blown tablet. I find myself in this camp and have been enjoying a truly portable 7" tablet/eReader. With a modified nook, I'm able to read PDF, Kindle, Adobe DRM, ePUB, etc...

Electronista

Reasons for the popularity weren't given out. The Android device deliberately shies away from being a true tablet with a lack of support for easily available third-party apps and an interface that focuses on reading. Its $249 price has made it half as expensive as an iPad, however, and enthusiasts have taken to unofficial hacks to get full-fledged Android onboard.

[RockdaMan]

I have a similar device...a $60 Pandigital novel. I love it. I also look forward to 'upgrading' to the iPad.

[Lemurion]

I have a rooted Nook Color and I'm not surprised at the popularity. There's nothing in its price range with its raw capability. It combines an iPad class screen with a smaller form factor and much lower price.

Devices like the Pandigital Novel are good - but with lower quality and resistive screens they don't have the same appeal to the eye - and they're also harder to hack. Hardwiring the boot order on the NC helped make it a hacker's dream.

[Kali Yuga]

I have a hard time believing an anonymous source that claims B&N has sold 7 million Nook Colors in half the time that the iPad has been out.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

I have a hard time believing an anonymous source that claims B&N has sold 7 million Nook Colors in half the time that the iPad has been out.

Kali, Digitimes says merely that B&N has taken 3 million in shipment from their manufacturer. And that 50% could be the non-iPad market share-so they are counting the Xoom and the Samsung Tab. I think 3 million is probably half of their share, for now.

[snipenekkid]

i remember doubting the monthly production numbers B&N indicated last winter but reading around the web I have to say I really do not doubt them now. I am even looking at an NC as a slate option just for browsing and simple web use. But I need to look at the actual features which exist on a rooted NC.

Remember many of us are now old, at least in our AARP years -- finally!! -- and, well, we are fed up, beaten down with the constant need to make system changes because someone changed a part of the OS on the device and to get some needed feature means anywhere from a day to half a day of fiddling with the beastie until either it submits or is rudely introduced to the brick fireplace.

Having handled and used an NC live I will say it's all but useless for me as a, ahem, large format reader because, well, it's not. Even in landscape there might be 1/3 to 1/2 a page shown. For me that simply is impractical. However as an email, web and media consumption device, I think it's spiffy. I look at it sort of like what I had hoped my Nokia N800 was promised to be. And here we have an NC that exceeds it's promised features. And all for just $250, not too shabby. So I guess I am warming to a device as long as it's not too high maintenance in order to keep it running the things I want if for.

Any recommendations where I can really start looking at it as an option?

[Dopedangel]

Considering that nook color is not sold outside US those are very good numbers.

[FF2]

I just checked to see if it could be tethered to a Blackberry. Apparently, tether.com does not have anything to accomplish it. But as the inquiries went on, the thread started to show some interest from the tether folks. I guess, us AARP folks need to totter on down to B&N.

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

It combines an iPad class screen

No it doesn't.

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

Devices like the Pandigital Novel are good

Outstanding, actually.

[Worldwalker]

X, you might wanna check that topic spelling. It's late, and my brain is making funny little noises in the corner, so you don't want to know the thoughts "compeditor" brought to mind (especially since this is a book forum). Comps ... editors ... and the fact that free association is worth exactly what you pay for it ... well, you can figure it from there.

[snipenekkid]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

No it doesn't.

by all means please elaborate to support your sound byteme.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by snipenekkid

by all means please elaborate to support your sound byteme.

The ipad's screen has better color saturation and much better viewing angles. Still the nook color is a great bargain, no doubt.

[snipenekkid]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

The ipad's screen has better color saturation and much better viewing angles. Still the nook color is a great bargain, no doubt.

really, that's sorta weird as when I had the chance to run them side by side this past January, I didn't see much, if any difference. Maybe there is some variation in the suppliers for the NC screens? Or it's the nicely tinted glass on the iPad? I do know I prefer the 4:3 screen of the iPad over the NC.

I wonder if cracking the case on the NC and replacing the CCFL tubes with daylight color corrected tubes would make a difference? I've see a lot of LCD panels over the years where the maker spent $0.35 less on warmer CCFL's resulting in all but killing the dynamic range/color depth on the display. But <$25 and 30-mins of my time and viola, night and day difference after swapping-in the daylight color corrected CCFL(s).

I mention that as they both use IPS panels. But of course different makers will use different materials to get to the same place, sort of

Thanks for the details.

[Lemurion]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

No it doesn't.

Both are IPS screens - unlike most of the competition. The Nook Color actually having a slight advantage in crispness because it's 169 PPI, to the iPad's 132 PPI.