[LINK] touch screen e-readers

[Jan Whitaker]

Fwd: Publishers Lunch

>BN Presents "Simple, Pure" $139 Reader, Says Nook Color Is No. 2 Tablet
>
>If I'm being honest, as I usually try to do, the 
>working book trade press corp showed up at 
>Barnes & Noble's Union Square store this morning 
>with a bit of resentment. Why was the company 
>pulling us away from the Javits floor on the 
>opening morning of BEA to introduce an already 
>leaked eInk touchscreen device? Particularly 
>when those nice Canadians from Kobo unveiled 
>their $129 touchscreen reader modestly at Javits 
>Center yesterday. Also odd at first, and then 
>just plain annoying (and a little pathetic), was 
>a claque of roughly sixty people wearing black 
>t-shirts emblazoned with "nook," apparently 
>instructed to clap and whoop loudly at regular 
>intervals during the presentation.
>
>As expected from pre-announcement leaks, the new 
>device is an eInk Pearl display full-touchscreen 
>ereader, with a six-inch screen, priced at $139, 
>which will start shipping on or about June 10 
>(available for pre-orders now). They say it 
>weighs just under 7.5 ounces, and promise that 
>it has "battery life of up to two months on a 
>single charge," proclaiming twice the life of 
>Kindle's device. (It's a "wholly contained 
>battery unit.") By removing the buttons - Lynch 
>touted the Nook as having 37 fewer buttons than 
>the Kindle - the Nook is a smaller, more 
>paperback-sized reader.  Lynch also says their 
>engineers have mostly solved the "flashing" 
>effect of page turns, saying "users will see 80 
>percent less flashing." Later in the 
>presentation the company notes they developed 
>"proprietary technolgoy so that each page 
>dissolves into the next." Another software 
>improvement lets readers "flip" through any book quickly.
>
>Lynch did side-by-side comparisons with the 
>current Kindle model to demonstrate BN's product 
>leadership, though there was no mention ofthe 
>Kobo touchscreen model introduced yesterday.
>Lynch pitched the new model as designed for 
>people "looking for just a simple, pure reading 
>experience." Separately, talking about Nook 
>Color, he declared that "it's our belief that 
>it's the bestselling android tablet in the US," 
>and the second bestselling tablet of any kind, 
>albeit way in the rear-view mirror of the iPad. 
>During the Q&A session Lynch declined to predict 
>how much their market share might continue to 
>grow, saying simply he expects "we will continue 
>to gain share--I won't give you a number because 
>it's arbitrary." He also said "we are looking at 
>international opportunities. There are a lot of 
>people very interested" and "clearly it's a big opportunity."
>
><http://click.publisherslunchdaily.com/cp/redirect.php?u=NTAwNnwzNDQ4OXxqd2hpdEBqYW53aGl0YWtlci5jb218NTU1OTM1fDc2MDIyMjM2fDc4NDY5Mw==&id=8482548>Kobo 
>Also Introduces a New Touchscreen Reader
>
>As Borders ceo Mike Edwards recently leaked in 
>part, Monday morning at BEA the Kobo executive 
>team 
><http://click.publisherslunchdaily.com/cp/redirect.php?u=NTAwNnwzNDQ4OXxqd2hpdEBqYW53aGl0YWtlci5jb218NTU1OTM1fDc2MDIyMjM2fDc4NDY5Mw==&id=8482549>announced 
>their new ereader ­ a $129.99 model with an eInk 
>Pearl screen­which raises the bar for tomorrow’s 
>announced features and price point for Barnes & 
>Noble’s expected touchscreen ereader. Kobo will 
>have the new model on display starting tomorrow 
>at their BEA booth, and visitors to Borders' 
>Columbus Square location can test it out between 
>noon and 2 PM Tuesday. Kobo says the new model 
>will ship in early June, though Borders' release 
>says it won't ship until July. Kobo's wi-fi 
>model will remain in production, now officially 
>priced at $99.99 (where it has been discounted to recently).
>
>As we reported recently based on an internal 
>Borders interview with ceo Mike Edwards, Borders 
>will indeed rebrand its ebookstore and ereading 
>app under the Kobo name, and will "share in the 
>profits of all Kobo e-content sales" from 
>devices sold by all US retailers. Kobo also 
>claims to have 10 percent of the US market, 
><http://click.publisherslunchdaily.com/cp/redirect.php?u=NTAwNnwzNDQ4OXxqd2hpdEBqYW53aGl0YWtlci5jb218NTU1OTM1fDc2MDIyMjM2fDc4NDY5Mw==&id=8482550>according 
>to the FT.


Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the 
world is to paint or sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

_ __________________ _