[LINK] Barnes & Noble Unveils Kindle-Killing ‘Nook’ E-Reader

[Kim Holburn]

Amazing when the ability to loan books to friends is a major selling  
point.  The simplest thing you can do with a real (non-virtual) book  
and even this ability has severe restrictions on the Nook - you can  
only lend to another Nook owner and only for 2 weeks?  Still can't  
sell them or presumably give them to someone else and B&N I assume  
know exactly what you've bought from them.  So much for privacy.

Nice reader though.  I wonder if you can put other e-books on it (non- 
Barnes & Noble books) like for instance books from the public domain  
and read them?

(Must restrain myself from obvious jokes about this e-reader's name!)

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/10/barnes-nobles-kindle-killing-dual-screen-nook-e-reader-leaked/

> Barnes & Noble Unveils Kindle-Killing, Dual-Screen ‘Nook’ E-Reader  
> (Updated)
>
> If you just ordered a Kindle, stop reading now or you’re in for a  
> giant dose of buyer’s remorse. Barnes and Noble unveiled a new e- 
> book reader called ‘Nook’, and it is hot, both inside and out.
>
> Nook looks a lot like Amazon’s white plastic e-book reader, only  
> instead of the chiclet-keyboard there is a color multitouch screen,  
> to be used as a keyboard or to browse books, cover-flow style. The  
> machine runs Google’s Android OS and it will have wireless  
> capability from AT&T.
>
> The $260 Nook–same price as the Kindle 2-is expected to be on sale  
> at the end of November.
>
> The Nook has the regular black-and-white E Ink display and a 3.5- 
> inch color touchscreen. The latter allows users to browse books. The  
> Nook also comes with built-in WiFi, 2GB of internal storage, MP3  
> player and supports open formats such as EPUB. Nook users have  
> features such as bookmarks, and the ability to share books with  
> friends for up to a fortnight through other e-readers, smartphones  
> or computers.
>

...

> Barnes and Noble has said Nook customers will have access to its  
> online bookstore that includes books, newspapers and magazines. The  
> Nook itself can hold up to 1,500 e-books.
>
> Gizmodo, first showed leaked images of the Nook last week. The blog  
> said that B&N will be discounting titles heavily in their electronic  
> format, which is as is should be (no paper, printing or shipping  
> costs). The Nook will also be able to get books from the Google  
> Books Project.
>
> Earlier Tuesday, Wall Street Journal, had a peek at an at ad set to  
> run in The New York Times this coming Sunday. The ad features the  
> line “Lend eBooks to friends,” and this has the potential to destroy  
> the Kindle model. One of the biggest problems with e-books is that  
> you can’t lend or re-sell them. If B&N is selling e-books cheaper  
> than the paper versions, then the resale issue is moot. And lending,  
> even if your friends need a Nook, too, takes away the other big  
> advantage of paper.
>
> In fact, this loaning function could be the viral feature that makes  
> the device spread. Who would buy a walled-garden machine like the  
> Kindle when the Nook has the same titles, cheaper, and you can  
> borrow? The Nook is already starting to look like the real internet  
> to the Kindle’s AOL.
>


-- 
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
Ph: +39 06 855 4294  M: +39 3494957443
mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request