Barnes & Noble planning May 24 launch of new e-reader iPad competitor
Bookseller Barnes & Noble revealed in an SEC filing Wednesday that the company plans to announce a new e-reader device on May 24th, creating yet another competitor to Apple's iPad.
Barnes & Noble filed Form 8-K with the SEC in compliance with regulations regarding insider trading, Reuters reports. According to the filing, the company "indicated it expects to make an announcement on May 24, 2011 regarding the launch of a new eReader device" in a meeting with investor analysts on Wednesday.
It remains unclear whether the new device will fall under the Nook branding. When the Nook was first released in 2009, it featured an e-ink screen, making it a direct competitor to the Amazon Kindle e-reader. Barnes & Noble appeared to abandon the e-ink-only strategy in favor of challenging the iPad with a more feature-rich tablet when it released the Nook Color last year.
Last week, the $249 Nook Color received a software update to its Google Android operating system that expanded its capabilities to include email, a web browser and games.
Shares of Barnes & Noble jumped over 14 percent on Wednesday to close at $12.01. The company has struggled to adapt to the current climate; its stock has dropped 40 percent since this time last year. In February, the bookseller suspended its quarterly dividend payment in order to gain the "financial flexibility" needed to invest heavily in the digital content market and the Nook.
"We intend for Barnes & Noble to be a leader in the exploding market for digital content," Chief Executive William Lynch said at the time, while estimating that his company held 25 percent of the U.S. e-book market.
Amazon to follow suit?
Though rival Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has repeatedly insisted that the company's focus is on building an e-reader and not a tablet, recent reports suggest that Amazon may be preparing a tablet device for release later this year. In March, some iOS developers reported that Amazon was courting them to port their apps to the Kindle platform.
Amazon has lowered prices on the Kindle to distance it from the iPad. Bezos announced late last year that many Kindle purchasers already own the iPad. The Kindle's price may have bottomed out, however, as analysts believe Amazon was unable to reach the $99 tipping point for the recently announced ad-supported Kindle, electing instead for the unusual price of $114.
Barnes & Noble filed Form 8-K with the SEC in compliance with regulations regarding insider trading, Reuters reports. According to the filing, the company "indicated it expects to make an announcement on May 24, 2011 regarding the launch of a new eReader device" in a meeting with investor analysts on Wednesday.
It remains unclear whether the new device will fall under the Nook branding. When the Nook was first released in 2009, it featured an e-ink screen, making it a direct competitor to the Amazon Kindle e-reader. Barnes & Noble appeared to abandon the e-ink-only strategy in favor of challenging the iPad with a more feature-rich tablet when it released the Nook Color last year.
Last week, the $249 Nook Color received a software update to its Google Android operating system that expanded its capabilities to include email, a web browser and games.
Shares of Barnes & Noble jumped over 14 percent on Wednesday to close at $12.01. The company has struggled to adapt to the current climate; its stock has dropped 40 percent since this time last year. In February, the bookseller suspended its quarterly dividend payment in order to gain the "financial flexibility" needed to invest heavily in the digital content market and the Nook.
"We intend for Barnes & Noble to be a leader in the exploding market for digital content," Chief Executive William Lynch said at the time, while estimating that his company held 25 percent of the U.S. e-book market.
Amazon to follow suit?
Though rival Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has repeatedly insisted that the company's focus is on building an e-reader and not a tablet, recent reports suggest that Amazon may be preparing a tablet device for release later this year. In March, some iOS developers reported that Amazon was courting them to port their apps to the Kindle platform.
Amazon has lowered prices on the Kindle to distance it from the iPad. Bezos announced late last year that many Kindle purchasers already own the iPad. The Kindle's price may have bottomed out, however, as analysts believe Amazon was unable to reach the $99 tipping point for the recently announced ad-supported Kindle, electing instead for the unusual price of $114.
Comments
Bookseller Barnes & Noble revealed in an SEC filing Wednesday that the company plans to announce a new e-reader device on May 24th, creating yet another competitor to Apple's iPad...
The thing a lot of people don't realise is that while these devices are "competitors" they are also helping the iPad conquer the world at the same time.
It's like when desktop computers first appeared. There were all kind of different types and variations made by dozens of different companies, but the industry ended up standardising (as it always does), on one basic form, the IBM compatible. All that those other different approaches did in the end was slake the initial demand for devices and promote the concept of the desktop computer without actually winning the market for the desktop computer.
The same thing will happen in tablets. iOS and the iPad is already the standard and has been from day one. All these iPad wannabees will be forgotten in a few years and all they will have achieved is promoting and advancing the general idea that "tablets are the future," allowing for even more iPad sales when they fail.
Whether it's a "competitor" to the iPad.... that's a different story.
The same thing will happen in tablets. iOS and the iPad is already the standard and has been from day one. All these iPad wannabees will be forgotten in a few years and all they will have achieved is promoting and advancing the general idea that "tablets are the future," allowing for even more iPad sales when they fail.
It is a very dangerous to expect the competition to fail and disappear. Yes the current versions have issues but we should expect that over the course of the year the problems will be fixed and there will be a serious competition.
Calling an e-reader a competitor to the iPad is like calling a motorcycle a competitor to a car.
Or like calling iOS devices a competitor to Portable gaming Consoles.
Headline should read... "Barnes & Noble to release new tablet"
Whether it's a "competitor" to the iPad.... that's a different story.
At least every new tablet is less and less being portrayed as an "iPad killer" right out of the gate.
So basically, another Nook Color?
No, it is a "new e-reader device". Get with the program...!
The thing a lot of people don't realise is that while these devices are "competitors" they are also helping the iPad conquer the world at the same time.
It's like when desktop computers first appeared. There were all kind of different types and variations made by dozens of different companies, but the industry ended up standardising (as it always does), on one basic form, the IBM compatible. All that those other different approaches did in the end was slake the initial demand for devices and promote the concept of the desktop computer without actually winning the market for the desktop computer.
The same thing will happen in tablets. iOS and the iPad is already the standard and has been from day one. All these iPad wannabees will be forgotten in a few years and all they will have achieved is promoting and advancing the general idea that "tablets are the future," allowing for even more iPad sales when they fail.
That's a very interesting view I haven't heard of the iPad yet. You make a valid point, new forms of media or ways of obtaining/accessing media goes through an initial stage of competitive selective process and one usually stands when the dust settles. I can think of a hand full of examples, and I'm sure you can add to this list:
-HD DVD vs Blue ray,
-Sirius vs XM
-Secure digital memory cards (SD) vs everything else (smart media, compact flash, XD, memory stick, etc)
-mp3 vs other file formats (cant think of names, but Sony had one and Toshiba? had one)
-cd-rw formats (r+-/?$&@whatever w)
-ipod vs zune and other mp3 players
This may not be a comprehensive list, or something that seems to compare directly with the iPad, but the tablet concept is very new. Something to access movies, music, the interweb, and games, but not yet a laptop, not a TV, not a music player.
The difference I see with this fight for the iPad, and similarly the iPhone, is that Android is out there in numbers. I want to say but I'm not sure, that Android has about the same market share as iOS. The funny thing is, everything is compared to the iPod, iPhone, and iPad.
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Or like calling iOS devices a competitor to Portable gaming Consoles.
Not quite the analogy I was going for, but in a more general sense, yeah, sure, okay.
iPad has forced the e-reader industry to lower prices signifcantly, they certainly don't want samsung or htc eating their lunch at the low end as well. I would still say e-Inc makes for a much better reading experience, but it's better to be on offensive against cheap tablet readers then having to fight a defensive war stating e-Inc is better and hoping consumers agree.
I know we all here at AI know this but it's good to hear someone in the Media agree and not just report for example; RIM Introduces New iPad Killer Tablet!
Anyway...
Best
I really don't believe that ebook readers should be consider competitors to the iPad. There is some overlap in functionality but equally there is some overlap in functionality between an iPod shuffle and an iPhone.
Absolutely...
It's almost like some just like typing the word 'iPad' regardless of actual context/relevance.
Or like calling iOS devices a competitor to Portable gaming Consoles.
On how closely you look at it. For example, an hard-core gamer will insist on a very wide distinction between the two, since the iPad is a general-purpose portable device, while the PGS is a dedicated device/system. But the average user, much like those who will play games on a PC instead of an Xbox or Playstation or Wii, doesn't much care about the distinction because they want the availability of games without having to switch hardware or inputs.
The input issues on a general purpose mobile device of any make/model will alway fall short of a dedicated device from the perspective of purist gaming, and will only present minor challenges to the casual gamer.
The same goes for eReading. Backlit general purpose devices will always have some level of challenge in presenting eBook/text-based reading matter in bright sunshine situations, where the essentially reflective dedicated eInk reader will handle it better. They will improve eInk readers to allow better web access, better speed and rendering, top lighting and so on, but it will not replace a general purpose mobile device at the same level of utility, but it may present an acceptable subset.
There's a very basic price niche that the other tablet and e-readers have to now conform to, and that is that if Apple offers nothing for $250 except an iPod then they have a wide open market for 7" Android tablets around $300. If they choose to aim higher for no reason other than to have a wider range these will just sit on the shelves. Having finally used a Nook I can say that I like it for $250 but a 10" model with more storage or bells and whistles is absolutely not appealing for $425. It would have to be a totally reworked interface, which it won't be, and it's still reliant on an OS that someone else out there is providing.
Really the only things for Apple that is causing any lack of a slam dunk on their lower end is the way other tablets have USB, mini SDHC ports and other connections right out of the box. Aside from that I've never used one that I didn't feel lacked the simple effortlessness of the iPad, and that's worth some price difference.
I'm interested what this will be. But IMO a $425 Nook is not going to get the attention of someone with that budget (who, like me, would be happy enough buying what is sold as an e-reader if it's a great internet browser).
BTW, sis told me not to get the Nook, Mom doesn't want it. She likes her 2010 MBP just fine for everything. : )
For tablet LCD based form-factor, the iPad has the market locked. But a color e-ink device priced $50-$100 over the current monochrome e-ink readers could be a good move.
- Jasen.
I'd like to see a color e-ink device. Yes, it won't be as saturated as an LCD display, nor as good as glossy paper print. But it should compare favorably to newspaper. And for the majority of books and other print-to-digital migrations be good enough. E-ink's big advantage over LCDs is visibility in sunlight. You can't sit by the pool or on the deck or in the park and read an iPad.
For tablet LCD based form-factor, the iPad has the market locked. But a color e-ink device priced $50-$100 over the current monochrome e-ink readers could be a good move.
CNET, which is saying there's a good chance it will be color e-ink makes a good point today regarding the trade off necessary for the right price point. It will need to either do away with the touch screen navigation in favor of hardware buttons or keep the form as small as it is now and not add any features. Personally, my dislike of the hardware button navigated readers is greater than my desire for a better thing to read on than a backlit LCD (which I agree is unreadable in some conditions).