Ok, so I don’t have a Nook in hand yet. Unlike the high-flying super famous tech bloggers of which I am pretty envious, I don’t have gadget companies sending me stuff for free in hopes that I will give a 2 thumbs up to millions of faithful readers. And, I’m too poor to pick one up when they come out, officially, in a month or so, AND I tend to avoid the big chain stores so I haven’t gone in to the local B&N to see if they have a floor model primed and ready for my fat fingers to swipe that lovely little screen at the bottom.
So, I can’t really give any sort of review, or preview, of this thing. All I know is what I have been reading and honestly, you have probably been reading the same shtuff. Gizmodo, Engagdet and TechCrunch are all over it, while Slate proposes that the thing is going to be so successful that it will bring B&N to it’s knees (Er, ok.)
But I can say it looks way more betterer than the kindle. Im sure Marc will point out that it’s still a damn ebook reader… but I can’t help it. I love widgets and I can’t help but get excited when I see what looks like a good one. Especially if it’s better than one I don’t like.
It has that cool swipy little screen (brilliant!) but also, oh yeah, some other features… such as; It looks good, SHARING!!!, and you can peep books that you haven’t bought while you are in the store (though… seriously…. this one has me a little confused. If your in the store… why don’t you just pick up the damn book from the shelf?).
Anyway, lets keep an eye on it. I’m not saying I am going to buy one… but I can still be happy if it’s better that the Kindle. Can’t I?
October 24th, 2009 at 4:20 PM
It has wifi and directly supports more formats. And it's a lot sexier looking. I hope it wins.I read the Slate article, and I have to say I agree with it. If it's successful, B&N is going to have to start closing stores, but I don't think they really have any choice. They can't compete with the Walmarts and the Targets that sell books at a loss to get you in the store, so their only choice is electronic sales.
October 24th, 2009 at 8:22 PM
Yeah I want to see a Celebrity Death Match. That would be awesome.Well, I am getting the feeling that B&N is a sinking ship anyway… so figuring out a way to dethrone the kindle and get people excited about an ereader, in the end, I don't think it can be bad, can it?If your ship is sinking, ram it into the beach and turn it into a restaurant. Why the hell not?
October 24th, 2009 at 11:15 PM
Yes, this is a stunningly positive development, and proof that in America, some big corporations are incapable of innovation. Barnes & Noble has always been a copycat company. Their one innovation was in convincing Wall Street that it was smart to invest in a bookstore company. They have played the market-psychology game very successfully for a full 16 years. But now they have made a profound error.Still, as was reported a number of years ago, Barnes & Noble isn't actually in the book business at all. They're in real estate. If they closed every bookstore tomorrow, their real estate holdings would still support a very high valuation for the corporation.I don't mind that they're headed into a different business than storefront retailing. I'm delighted that there will be more opportunities for their soon-to-be-laid-off employees who decide to open independent bookstores.