Barnes & Noble to unveil new e-reader on May 24

[ApK]

Originally Posted by boswd

my guess is they were looking to trim the fat and probably did some research on how widely used some of the extra features were. I'm sure each extra feature has their dedicated niche for example my wife loves audio books for her ride into work. She ripped almost her entire library into MP3 and downloaded them to her nook classic and runs a male to male 3.5 mm jack to the stereo.

Me on the flip side have never once used the mp3 player. My guess is I'm the majority and she's the minority so if you are looking for ways to cut down on the overall cost of things, that wouldn't make the cut.

just pure speculation.

No doubt. Along those lines, I'd be curious to see their metrics on how much money they make from books purchased over WiFi and 3G.
They obviously kept WiFi in, and not a browser or 3G, for a reason.
Amazon, on the other hand, continues to subsidize 3G web access for three generations of ereaders. Are their number that different, or are they trying to hit different audiences?

[detayls]

Originally Posted by ApK

So you just use your iPhone to make phone calls, I guess?

A Nook (simple touch) is very obviously a reader and not much else. I like that.

Equally obviously the hacker types will have a field day but nowhere near my reader.

To each his own.

I can't help wondering how much the hacker community costs the innocent readers in terms of the costs to B&N of "rooting" and making sure that everything still works. I bet the new Nook would only be $99 without all of the foolishness that the hackers add.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by ApK

No doubt. Along those lines, I'd be curious to see their metrics on how much money they make from books purchased over WiFi and 3G.
They obviously kept WiFi in, and not a browser or 3G, for a reason.
Amazon, on the other hand, continues to subsidize 3G web access for three generations of ereaders. Are their number that different, or are they trying to hit different audiences?

me thinks Amazon deep pockets

BandN doing their best not to become Borders.

I think amazon can produces the 3gs for alot longer

I would love to see the difference in sales between the wifi only nook and kindles compared to the 3g models.

On the nook you can tell a wifi only in the wild by it's white back. I see a ton of those and don't see too many gray backs(3G) anymore.

[silasgreenback]

Originally Posted by detayls

I bet the new Nook would only be $99 without all of the foolishness that the hackers add.

I'm pretty sure they'd be just as comfortable charging $139. If it weren't for the Kindle Wi-Fi, they'd be charging $150 without hackers even accounted for (if they even are).

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by ApK

I'd be curious to see their metrics on how much money they make from books purchased over WiFi and 3G.
They obviously kept WiFi in, and not a browser or 3G, for a reason.
Amazon, on the other hand, continues to subsidize 3G web access for three generations of ereaders. Are their number that different, or are they trying to hit different audiences?

A little bit of speculation here, and like my old Thermodynamics teacher used to say: "nothing is free on this life, unless is coming from your mom"

In other words, the company needs to sell enough books via 3G, to support the "free" 3G access or existence. Amazon needs to pay the service anyway and the more ebooks that they sell, the better and higher profit.

Does not look like B&N was selling enough ebooks to keep the 3G service or maybe the selling traffic via 3G was not as expected. Or maybe the deal (with whoever the 3G provider is or was) was not as good as Amazon, who knows. But selling a Wifi only device certainly save a few millions, not just during the manufacturing process but with the on going support and fees (for B&N I mean)

[MsCG1]

Originally Posted by ApK

So you just use your iPhone to make phone calls, I guess?

Maybe not, but there are mobile phones that solely exist to make just phone calls. In fact, contrary to what gadget communities would have us think, smartphones make up a small percentage of overall cellphone use.

So yes, there is still a high demand for single use devices. I use my eink Nook for NOTHING but reading books. I've used the browser maybe twice, and none of the other features and ad-ons at all.
There is a market for people who only want ereaders to read books on, and there's nothing wrong with BN aggressively pursuing them. YMMV of course, but it's great that there are so many reader devices to suit all of us.

[WillysJeepMan]

Originally Posted by detayls

A Nook (simple touch) is very obviously a reader and not much else. I like that.

Equally obviously the hacker types will have a field day but nowhere near my reader.

To each his own.

I can't help wondering how much the hacker community costs the innocent readers in terms of the costs to B&N of "rooting" and making sure that everything still works. I bet the new Nook would only be $99 without all of the foolishness that the hackers add.

I'd take that bet. Unless you know for a fact that B&N was selling each nook at a loss (with the hopes of making it up on book sales) then B&N wouldn't care what the hackers do.

If nooks were sold as loss-leaders, then B&N would not have provided so many ways of sideloading non-nookbooks.

A list price of $139 now means a holiday sale of $99.

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by MsCG1

There is a market for people who only want ereaders to read books on, and there's nothing wrong with BN aggressively pursuing them.

I agree on that statement and like I previously said, the reason why I like the Kindle and also why I have tablets for Magazines and/or games.

I read more and better, using an eink device. Less distractions and usually they are more comfortable to hold for long periods of time than tablets.

[RainingLemur]

Huh. I like the way the new Nook looks.

[SCION]

Originally Posted by jocampo

....
I read more and better, using an eink device. Less distractions and usually they are more comfortable to hold for long periods of time than tablets.

I'm with you on the less distractions and more comfortable to hold. Looking forward to having an eink device again! Not looking forward to a clip on light though.

[jersysman]

Originally Posted by boswd

my guess is they were looking to trim the fat and probably did some research on how widely used some of the extra features were. I'm sure each extra feature has their dedicated niche for example my wife loves audio books for her ride into work. She ripped almost her entire library into MP3 and downloaded them to her nook classic and runs a male to male 3.5 mm jack to the stereo.

Me on the flip side have never once used the mp3 player. My guess is I'm the majority and she's the minority so if you are looking for ways to cut down on the overall cost of things, that wouldn't make the cut.

just pure speculation.

They said that this would be The Simple Reader. That is all it is a reader and that is how it will be marketed. They have two distinct products now. A pure eReader and a more robust reader/tablet. Look for them to push these products as such.

[Purple Lady]

it looks pretty good, but I just got a Kindle yesterday!
well, at least it was a freebie and also came with a $100 Amazon gift card

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by detayls

A Nook (simple touch) is very obviously a reader and not much else. I like that.

Equally obviously the hacker types will have a field day but nowhere near my reader.

To each his own.

I can't help wondering how much the hacker community costs the innocent readers in terms of the costs to B&N of "rooting" and making sure that everything still works. I bet the new Nook would only be $99 without all of the foolishness that the hackers add.

what do hackers have to do with the costs to B&N?
everything gets hacked nowadays

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by rogue_librarian

At 30mins a day I think it's a bit of a marketing stunt. I'd be interested in pageturns.

Do you know if the Kindle's 30-day battery life is based on reading 60 minutes per day?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by detayls

It's a reader. Just use it to read.

That's what I mostly do with my Kindle. But I also use it for audiobooks on occasion. They're books too.