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Prices Slashed For Nook, Kindle E-Readers
b0bby sends in a report from ZDNet about the sudden outbreak of a price war in e-reader devices. "On Monday, Barnes & Noble cut the price of the 3G Nook to $199. It also launched a $149 Wi-Fi version. Just hours later, Amazon responded by cutting the price of the Kindle to $189. At $259, the price of the Kindle and Nook just 24 hours ago, an e-reader purchase competed with an Apple iPad, which started at $499 for a Wi-Fi version. Below $200, a dedicated e-reader purchase makes a lot more sense." Sony dropped prices for its readers three months ago, but the move didn't kick off a price war at that time. Some believe that dedicated e-readers are doomed in the long run to lose out to general-purpose devices such as the iPad — and its coming imitators, many of which will be based on Google Android.
what are we talking, a 5-10,000% profit on each sale?
Until they drop Ebook prices, they can pound sand...... For those prices, Kindle/Nook should be free
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It's a lot easier to say that it's over and the iPad/tablet rush will kill the eReader revolution.
Not to mention the fact that the nook/Kindle are much, much cheaper. That makes taking it to places like the beach (large zipper plastic bag keeps it safe and readable) or just on the go in general is something you don't have to worry about.
Yes, the iPad will have its fans. But there are people who don't want a "do everything" device, they want something that reads books really, really well. And the nook, Kindle, and other eReaders do that. Until there's a radical revolution in color screen technology that gains the benefits that e-ink has (which are great for a book reading device)
Not to mention that the 3G iPad is $130 extra, and doesn't include free 3G for the store so you can make an impulse book buy wherever you are. That's major in the convenience factor of the device.
Forrester projected that the $150 price point would jump start e-reader sales.
And I predict a $49.99 will make them take off like a rocket!
Now if only there was a price war with content.
I think subtracting the printing and distribution costs of a printed version from a dead tree version of a book would be a fair price for econtent - the publisher makes their money, the author gets the same royalty, and the consumer doesn't feel like their over-paying for content.
Example: $50 paper book - $20 for royalties, advertising, general administrative costs, publisher profit = $30 for printing, paper, trucking of the dead trees. Sell the book for $20 + retailer markup = $28.
I can live with that for the same content. Now if they'd allow for that content to be transferred easily ..... yeah, dream on. I guess if someone want's to borrow a book on the eReader, you would have to lend them the entire reader. That sucks!
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It doesn't matter to them if the profit on the reader is razor-thin (heh) or even negative, so long as people are buying overpriced e-books.
Everyone is learning from Apple (used to be the case with music, still the case with apps):
When you entice people to make a significant investment in your platform (via books with your proprietary DRM system - the nook uses ePUBs, but it's wrapped with their own DRM) so switching means throwing all of the books they bought away, you'll have them buying your device (and more importantly, the books) for years to come.
Some people would argue that you argue that you only read books once, but some people watch movies, read books, etc. multiple times.
With a 4"+ screen it bridges the gap enough between too small and not portable. While e-ink may mean less strain on the eyes, I mostly read at night so I would need some sort of light anyways.
With the ADD/ADHD world we live driven by technology which distracts and provides easier paths than focusing on a single task, a dedicated reader suits me much better for productivity in reading. iPhone, iPad, laptops, etc. provide too many distractions when I'm trying to read. I'd much rather be playing a game, listening to music, watching Youtube, streaming Netflix or almost anything else than reading a book if a device offers alternatives.
Most people nowadays spend more time context switching than productively accomplishing tasks all fed by devices that do more than one thing and do them well, interupt us with notifications and provide mind-numbing entertainment at the touch of a button.
When I want to read and really get into a book and enjoy it, I use my dedicated eReader (in my case, a sony which supports ePub). I've never been anywhere nearly productive reading e-texts on any other device.
At the size of a Kindle DX a dedicated e-reader makes sense.. the standard versions screens are too small and don't provide enough value over cell phone screens for the price.
I think there is an application for ebooks at the public library. It'll be cool to walk in with your ebook and then access the public libraries entire catalog. Research and magazine sections as well.
Everybody is using the iPad anyway.
This is so very reminiscent of the end of the VHS-Betamax wars - and in case you wondered, the iPad is VHS, fwiw.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
I own both a Sony reader and an iPad. The Sony reader is far better at reading fiction than the iPad. The iPad is great for more technical stuff and magazine like reading.
never looked much at the nook, will now, forget sony, I dont want to flip my reader on and be forced with "new firmware that removes features" or tough luck, no new content (that is IF sony is still in the content market, my psp seems to be gesturing no)
Actually, they're only doomed by uncreative people. I think folks like PocketBook can make E-Ink a popular item. There's really no comparison to the eye strain thing. The PocketBook 360 rotates to the 4 cardinal directions so you can hold it with either hand. Plus it is small enough to be a separate device that you can take for reading.
The ultimate device would be one which used the mechanics of Eink, but to include an OLED on the black side instead of black ink. You see that if the black spot were an OLED turned off, then the screen would behave like E-ink until you wanted to watch a video. Then the blackspot would turn on, and you'd have higher refresh for other apps.
I told E-ink about the above idea because I think it is probably something that is possible.
At least I thought it did.
iPad meh...
Is that Apple's version of Natalie Portman?
I think, it is pretty much Game Over for dedicated readers.
You want that or not, but iPad won, even so far it is sold less in units in total. But still it will kill Kindle, I think. And devices that will be built on top of Android will replace Kindle and stuff like that. Simply because they can do more than just reading a book.
Especially last update from Apple to iPad on reading PDFs is really a killer feature. To be fair, Kindle is very nice gadget, but unfortunately, not enough good anymore.
because they found a new customer, publishers. We are just the frill too line the publisher's pockets. Amazon was doing great with their pricing model yet people still yelped over the "high costs". Well for the time being we will have to look back on their model as the good old days.
I am disappointed that the larger Kindle is still held at its price. That is the one I am most interested in. Can't stand the iPad, totally useless in the sun; as in I like to read outdoors, I don't need another device to make a basement dweller. I compared both, the benefit of having geeks for coworkers and while the iPad has more function in the realm of books the Kindle just is it. One e-ink comes out in color that will remove one of the last complaints people have with it. Well that and the ability to easily annotate entries.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
I'm waiting for two things: an e-ink reader that has nice contrast (actual BLACK on light grey or preferrably on white-ish), and for e-book reader Android apps for Kindle/Nook/etc ebooks for my new htc EVO 4G.
The last time I had to move, my 120+ boxes of books nearly killed me, and I've filled many more boxes with books since then. *sigh*
One thing that seems to be true with Android is it's always "coming". There's always a really great Android moment on the horizon.
But there are already many Android tablets. They're not coming. They've been here a while. Last January's CES was infested with them. They all just suck. They get reviewed and they ship 10 units and they go away. The Nook which is mentioned in this article is an Android tablet!
The idea that manufacturers are going to just copy iPad is asinine. Look at the Sprint EVO, which had 3 iPhones to copy and it gets 8 hours of standby battery life. In other words, if you don't use it at all, it still dies in 8 hours. A key feature of iPad is the 10-12 hours of actual use, and 30 days of standby. I've gotten on a train in Silicon Valley with a fully-charged iPad, surfed on 3G the whole way, and when I'm putting it away in San Francisco, it still says "100%" in the battery meter. I've had the device for 3 weeks and never even seen a low battery warning.
And iOS is not a phone OS scaled-up, it's desktops-and-servers OS X with a touch interface on top. Android doesn't have that kind of graphics layer, multichannel audio, advanced typography, C API, and other desktop-class features that only become even more important as you scale the display up. Being able to port desktop C apps over rather than rewrite in Java only becomes even more important.
And the bag of parts on an iPad approaches the retail price point. There is no room under there. A big display and battery is a big display and battery. An iPad 3G 16GB is $629 retail and Nexus One 4G with 1/4 the screen size and 30% of the battery volume is $649 retail. The biggest problem for Android v2 has been it's more expensive than iPhone! That's why it only sells on the closed networks in the US. That's why 75% of Android devices run v1.6.
In tech, it is a fool's game to try and predict the future anyway. But if you are doing this Android-is-coming-soon thing, that is something you should talk to your therapist about. It's just become so tiresome. Any mention of iPad or iPhone online and the next thing you know "Android will be better next year!" Sheesh. It's like a reflex. If only it was as easy to actually make functional, consumer-ready devices.
I disagree. I've owned a Sony Reader and an iPad. The iPad is, hands down, easier on the eyes.
The Kindle and other eInk displays have a contrast ratio of 6:1 to 7:1. The iPad backlit IPS display is 750:1 to 930:1.
Other than perhaps directly under the sun, the iPad display wins. In dim light, the iPad owns.
Yeah, just like how consoles were replaced by those general purpose PCs (and imitators, *cough*). It's gonna happen soon, right?
* The fact that they get battery life in weeks instead of hours
I don't need something to last weeks, 8 hours is fine.
* The fact that they use minimal power between page flips (vs. a relatively steady draw)
See above.
* The fact that they are easier on the eyes
For reading indoors, an LCD is just as good, maybe better. At least from my experience, and I have terrible vision. I have read my iPod Touch for hours without my eyes getting tired - wearing my readers, of course.
* The fact that they are more easily read in sunlight...
As far as I can tell, that's only real advantage of dedicated ebook reader. For the $498 price take, I would rather use a regular book.
Benefits of netbook:
* Much cheaper
* Far more powerful and flexible. Not just a uni-tastker
* Back-lit screen can be read in the dark.
* Color screen
* Can read any format: chm, doc, pdf, whatever. This is my biggest complaint against dedicated ebook readers, none of them read a pdf very well, and converters do not work very well either.
Reading the details the Nook will allow you to hook up for free to any B&N or AT&T WiFi hotspot. If you're in a B&N bookstore, you can "read" any of the ebooks for free. You can't take them with you if don't buy them. So, you can just come in and kill a few hours drinking over-priced coffee and reading like at a library.
They also have a "lending" function, as long as you use their software. I won't buy DRM books, but for people who don't mind you can "lend" an e-book to a friend for 14 days. Works with the iPod, Android, Mac & PC as well as some other platforms. Oh, and the Nook runs Android.
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Just ordered a wifi one...hope they come in stock soon so I can have it by the end of the week. A price drop was all I had been waiting for to jump on the ereader bandwagon. Android is pretty nice too!
They all still utterly SUCK at viewing PDF files.
I have nearly a terabyte in PDF files. All my back issues of "Nuts and Volts" and other magazines that back in the early 2000's were not stupid and started offering E versions of their magazine. I would love to be ableto read them on the ebook reader... Problem is the Nook, Sony and Kindle all utterly suck at PDF reading.
Even the ebook reader made by the PDF reader alternative the "foxit" reader sucks horribly at PDF. I dont care if I have to scroll. I would love to be able to get a e-reader that the display is 8.5X11 or a solid A4 size. Because most technical stuff needs to be full page.
I havent tried a iPad... Only 1 person I know has one.
and I love it, but I feel I could have saved $110 if I would have bought it now (the 3G doesn't work were I live, so I'm ok with the wifi version).
These will be worth buying once they're at $50. And they'll sell billions. I don't really see why Amazon isn't just doing the $50 deal today to take out the market and get people buying ebooks. This is another market that's waiting to be flooded with either overpriced Apple hardware or commodity hardware that can read books from anywhere. If Amazon wants to be "the eBook store" they need to make their reader ubiquitous.
Those prices were from over a year ago. They should be a fraction of that price now.
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Ahum. iPad and its coming imitators? Anyone who thinks so has been living under a rock. Days after the release of the iPad I already received advertising e-mails from Chinese manufacturers producing such lookalikes. And indeed mostly Android based, though I have also seen Windows based tablets. Same for the iPhone. That one took a little longer as the actual device outlook was a little less predictable.
The big difference starts of course with price (about half), choice (hundreds - in different sizes and colours) and functionality (Android vs. iOS).
But to say imitations are coming - well no, not really. The big manufacturers may have yet to launch imitations, but then they are always slow to react. The Chinese have their imitations on the market already for well almost as long as the real thing is there.
I certainly hope so! I've been reading that you can root it too and run some android apps. One of the big things I look for in just about any device is hackability.
One well known contributor to what people call "eye strain" is a bright room environment (a sunlit room) contrasted with a dimmer display. The contrast ratio of the device itself contributes to reduced eyestrain, if black and white are more distinct from one another.
Anyone that up-modded you should read this: The Anosognosic’s Dilemma: Something’s Wrong but You’ll Never Know What It Is (Part 1) because they are too stupid to wield mod points.
If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
It's only game over for people who want a more expensive device that does more. Although you may not see the point of inexpensive, single-purpose devices, there are millions of people who do. Nobody "won"; there are simply two different markets that buy two different items. And as cheap as ebook readers are getting, a lot of people will have both sitting on their night stand.
How about for those who don't read books at all like me? [grin]
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One well known contributor to what people call "eye strain" is a bright room environment (a sunlit room) contrasted with a dimmer display.
Yes, and the other - much more widespread - contributor to eye strain is a dark room environment contrasted with a bright display. Countless geeks can testify to that.
So, your point being?..
FREE foxit pro reader and laptop does sooo much more
"Some believe that dedicated e-readers are doomed in the long run to lose out to general-purpose devices such as the iPad" -- Not so fast. I specifically bought the mid-range Sony reader *because* it is a dedicated reader. They have trumped Amazon, and B&N with simplicity, specificity. I can swipe back and forth between pages just as if I was reading a book. I can read *way* more formats than the two other (main) vendors devices support. Does tethering to my computer bother me? Not in the slightest. Being able to download (ONLY FROM the vendor's store) over 3G wireless seems like more of a tether, to me. You're locked in, and that's just the way they like it. The sony I have has two memory slots, a DUO and a standard SD card slot. I can shove ~90 gigabytes of books into this thing (at present).
But that's enough of the features. You can read the specs for yourself elsewhere.
My point about the Sony dedicated reader is that it does it's job, it's simple job, better than the other readers. It's much like a Un*x program: small, specific, perfect for the job at hand. I want to read a book. I don't want to surf blogs, or play games, or fiddle with facebook. I can do that on my Evo. I can do that on my laptop, or desktop. Hell, I can even do net-based things on my Fios tv-box, now.
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I have to admit I like the E-Ink. I read on both my HTC Touch and my DSi and personally I kill my eyes. The E-Ink is just like a book, but much more portable. Besides the light of the other displays makes me feel wired at night, and then I can't sleep. http://lifehacker.com/5524849/ban-portable-electronics-before-bed-for-more-restful-sleep
I want it in colour.
I want removable ordinary AA batteries.
I want a plug in adaptor to run it and recharge the batteries.
I also want a solar panel on the backside,so it becomes self charging when out and about.
I also want it to be a generic reader that does everything, so I can tell all these proprietary formatters to stick their special lock in lines up their arses.
I also want to have a 50 year unconditional warranty on it.
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Voting up, Voting down - If I really gave a fuck about your approval or not, I'd come and ask you.
I worked at a company that has made this list. We learned that we should rate the company highly - otherwise we had to waste time in meetings discussing how we could improve employee satisfaction.
Posted to wrong article :-(