Rocket Bomber - article - business - retail - The New B&N Nook Color

Hi Kids.

…

So…

before I post all the crap I’ve been looking up on the internet since, well, September and quite a bit more intensely the past few weeks, it is necessary to post a disclaimer — it ran a little long, though, so I bumped it to the bottom of this article. Short version: I work for, but do not and can not speak for, Barnes & Noble. Clear?

So let’s talk about the Nook Color.

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Background:

Engadget, 19 October 2010: Barnes & Noble holding a ‘very special event’ 26 October

A number of other media outlets also reported on the upcoming 26 Oct. ‘event’, presumably because they all got invites. Didn’t take long for the news to ‘leak’

cnet News, 21 October: Source: New Nook is Android-based, full-color

And the announcement:

[source: Techworld via YouTube]

Paul Biba of TeleRead took some video during the B&N presentation and posted it in two parts — I won’t bother to embed it here, but the links are there for those who just have to see it — and plenty of details are in the offical press release. Both cnet and engadget were on hand, and posted videos from the demonstrations made to the press after the event. B&N posted a promotional video to their nook website, and you can go watch it if you’re feeling masochistic, though I prefer the edited version Gizmo posted to YouTube.

Select Reactions:

Crunch Gear, 25 October: The Color Nook Could Be The Tablet Tipping Point
Salon, 26 October: Barnes & Noble’s new color e-reader: Locking down its new Nook tablet, the retailer cripples a potential breakthrough
Ars Technica, 27 October: Nook Color features LCD display, shorter battery life at $249
PCMag.com, 27 October: Barnes & Noble’s Nook Color Makes First-Gen Nook Obsolete
electronista, 28 October: Nook Color follows Apple’s ‘curated’ app model, uses ARM A8
cnet, 29 October: LCD vs. e-ink: The eyestrain debate
The Onion, 1 November: Barnes & Noble Releases Color Nook
Forbes, 3 November: The NookColor Won’t Save Barnes and Noble

If you’re interested in keeping up to date, you might bookmark appropriate searches at engadget, gizmodo, TechCrunch, and Google

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Despite what anyone else might say in columns or thought-pieces, no one was predicting a new Barnes & Noble ereader.

The first rumors landed 2 days after B&N extended invites to its unspecified Media Event, and I know this to whatever degree of certainty web searches provide: I’ve bookmarked a specific Google search, ‘ereader rumor’, restricted to only the posts in the last 24 hours and I’ve been checking it daily since 23 September. That particular search turned up the same 20-30 pages for weeks, right up until… wait for it… 20 October, the day after the B&N press invite for a 26 October media event. Sure, folks have predicted color e-readers for a while now, kinda ignoring the color screen attached to 99% of PCs and laptops—which function quite well as an e-reader, as does the iPad—as apparently, the platonic ideal form of an ‘e-reader’ must be a handheld device that is neither a ‘phone’ or a ‘tablet’. Very specific, for some reason.

[and the same might be said for ‘e-books’ which for some (the same?) reason must be read on an ‘e-reader’ — and this reading experience is somehow more sublime than reading mere ‘documents’ or web pages off of your computer screen, even though 90% of us do 90% of our reading on the internet on an LCD, day in & day out for years now …but that’s a different rant.]

The problem with the tech press is that they are techies — they know too much. Anyone in a position to comment authoritatively on the matter has been following tech trends for decades and knows not just what’s coming out this autumn, but also the trends and new technologies that will likely come out in 2012 or 2013 — It is rare to blindside someone in the tech press (though Apple seems to be capable of at least mild surprises once a year or so) and no sooner is a new device released, than they begin to tear it down. [literally, in some cases, but metaphorically also]

Nothing is quite good enough. The 4g iPhone was all but perfect, but one could sense the barely contained glee bloggers and journalists took in reporting the attenna problems. The iPad is great, but it doesn’t have a keyboard and at all of 1.5 lbs., apparently it’s a leaden albatros around users’ necks. The Palm Pre was also near-perfect, but since the user base was too small there was no hope of a robust app store.

Easy-to-use gadgets get docked for not being ‘open’ and user-customizable, Open gadgets get points taken away for being ‘chaotic’ and hard to learn, and great gadgets of all sorts get panned because they’re sold with (and subsidized by) data plans from phone companies that tie you in for years. (Oddly, devices sold without the phone-co.-subsidy are then criticized for being too expensive.)

There is no way to keep the internet happy: Haters are going to hate, partisans of one brand will always disparage all others, and even perfect isn’t good enough, because perfect takes too long and the tech will be six months old [*ancient*] by the time it comes out.

Not that the Nook Color is perfect — with specs as advertised, it represents a set of compromises: decisions made to optimize user experience while keeping costs below one of the ‘psychological barrier’ price points [$50, $100, $200 — big round numbers]. But when reading articles condemning (or praising, but mostly condemning) the new nook, it’s good to keep in mind that these writers and reviewers are techies, and both their knowledge base and expectations are different from the general public — for sub-$500 units, different from the devices’ target market.

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Nook Color: So what is it?

It’s an android tablet. No getting around that. It runs android, looks an awful lot like the emerging leader in the android tablet category [hey, there’s a lot to be said for being first, Samsung is going to build up a lead here] and let’s face it: the new nook has a LCD screen — in what seems like a step backward for e-readers [e-ink was one of the few selling points]

Ah yes, but what of that screen? LG VividView LCD. For most folks, I’m sure that means nothing. I’d certainly never heard of VividView, though I am familiar with LG — one of the top three manufactures of LCDs (second only to Samsung, in fact, and both based in South Korea) and certainly, they are folks who know screen technology. With bit of strategic Googling, I can demonstrate that VividView isn’t brand new; it’s been used for a couple of years now in high-end gaming laptops – and in those applications, easily HDTV capable. Now, I sincerely doubt the Nook Color is going to run HDTV – this is a $250 handheld and the stated resolution is 1024×600 (on a 7” screen; might I remind you that 1024×768 is often found on 14” laptops? —and that the resolution of the 10” iPad screen is also 1024×768?) and I don’t want to be blinded by the numbers; but the screen tech (despite not being Mirasol or color E-ink) certainly seems nice. I’m sure this lovely display is a battery hog and one of the reasons I’ll only get 4 hours (B&N says 8, and I laugh) between charges, but I’m eager to actaully see it. The Samsung Galaxy Tab has the same advertised resolution, 1024×600, for their 7” – though obviously Samsung manufactures the screen in that one. I’m looking forward to the write-up by a reviewer with access to each.

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The other half of the “android tablet” dynamic isn’t the ‘tablet’ part: the new nook seems to run android apps pretty much out of the box [according to reports] — though it won’t connect to an outside app market of any sort; what’s available will be only whatever B&N deems worthy. While that seems like an unnecessary speed bump, B&N is positioning and selling the device as an e-reader, and has an open invitation to all developers. I called it a mere ‘speed-bump’ for a reason; either some smart cookie will figure out how to hack the nook without crippling it (allowing it to run side-loaded apps while preserving the B&N e-reader functionality) or Barnes & Noble may just sell enough of these to make it an attractive market for developers, who really only have to tweak and gloss already finished android apps so they look good on the nook …and the Galaxy Tab, which as noted has the same screen resolution and OS so there will likely be some synergy

— and since synergy has been so overused, I’ll link to wikipedia and also define it here: “two or more agents working together to produce a result not obtainable by any of the agents independently” — I might advise my employer to be very generous in regards to what programs make it into the nook app store as there is an opportunity to develop a 7” android ecosystem — with the Samsung device soon to be available through Verizon and Sprint, and of course sales of the Nook Color (at at least $100 less than Samsung’s unit) and I know, I know, we’re selling e-readers and not computers, but one should not discount the “after market” or all the uses a consumer—a purchaser of our product—might want to employ, all of which add value and increase sales — you know, if Sony had tacitly accepted PSP hacks instead of cracking down, the PSP might be outselling Nintendo DS right now — and might even be a passable e-reader, to boot.

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So there it is; about all I can think to say about the new nook without actually having my hands on one.

Though I might note one other bias I think the nook encounters in the internet/technical press: Anything we do automatically gets discounted because we were two years late to the ball and we’re not a ‘tech’ company — it’s like your frumpy old aunt is getting dolled up and trying to crash the party.

As to being late: Apple is always late. They introduced iPods after MP3 players had been around for years, a phone after smart phones had been around for years, the iPad after netbooks had been around for years. [I’ve been over this in detail] Now, my [*cough*] beloved employer is no Apple, but being late isn’t bad.

And as far as not being a tech company: yes, I know many of you have Barnes & Noble ‘sussed out’ – there is a box somewhere in your head, labeled ‘bookstore’ or ‘place to plug in and check my email in an emergency’, and that’s the only role you can think of for Barnes & Noble.

We’ve offered wifi to customers for longer than I’ve had this blog; initially it was available only to paying customers, but we’ve had wifi in store since 2004 — what, 6 years as an internet service provider doesn’t count? — and for those of you who have been constantly re-learning and re-certifying for the past 20 years, where did you buy your computer reference books? Hm? Oh sure, you all buy them from Amazon now, but who stocked the books the Amazon programmers themselves used prior to 1994?

We’ve been here all the time.

I have to admit: some of the folks at the top are booksellers to the bone, and they don’t get the ‘new’ tech. But that’s why Steve Riggio stepped aside to let Bill Lynch take over as CEO — and B&N has had a website since 1997 (13 years now); & before the launch of BN.com, the company was selling books via CompuServe and America Online — OK, so that was a bad move in retrospect, but B&N was out there, out in front, back before a lot of you were on the ‘net.

Some might hate to admit it, but Barnes & Noble is a tech company: we are the entry point for learning, a provider of free internet for that sizable minority of ‘wifi gypsies’, and since last year: we sell portable electronics. Say what you want, but B&N has 20% of the e-book market and 1400+ stores and folks like me — who don’t have to defend the company…

You know, let me take that back a half-step: B&N corporate has cut my store payroll by like, 35% over the past couple of years and that, quite honestly, is killing me – I have a more than adequate base from which to criticize

…but that aside (or even taken into full consideration) – I still sell books, and I still work for Corporate Overlord Big Box Books, and as a blogger I might be considered an ideal interface to bridge old-school-physical-bookselling into the post-internet age, but not a one of my posts is sponsored or authorized by my employer, and I am at risk when I write about topics this close to home.

That’s a bit far afield from my point [though I consider it a necessary detour] –

I can’t help but get this impression from the tech press to date, “The Nook Color looks like a great tablet for $250 – a real bargain, even – it’s a shame it comes from Barnes & Noble”

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The Disclaimer

• Barnes & Noble signs my paycheck. I’m not an ‘insider’ at the corporate headquarters, though, or an engineer (or even the janitor) at the shiny new Barnes & Noble Digital division in Palo Alto. [which is hiring, btw. obviously that link is time-dependent; this article was posted 11 Nov 2010.] I’m just field management, one out of thousands of Store Managers and Asst. Managers and dept. managers that actually run the damn stores.
• I’m not authorized to speak for Barnes & Noble. Period. Not officially, not “off the record”, not under condition of anonymity: nothing.
• Barnes & Noble doesn’t tell me squat, past what you can go read for yourself at their website. OK, so I know a little bit more about my store, like payroll and sales targets, but I don’t share that information for obvious reasons.
• When I clock out and go home and start drinking, I’m a blogger. Every word you’ve ever read on this blog is just me, Matt Blind: otaku fanboy loser, geek-correspondent-at-large, introverted alcoholic blogger. I’m also a bookseller, and I bring that perspective and experience to my posts, but I am in no way privy to any insider info on this one.
• And even if I knew something, I couldn’t tell you. In fact, if I knew even a few, minor details that would be enough to preclude me from posting any sort of analysis on this topic at all. You know, because I could get fired and whatnot, since fool that I am I’ve been writing RocketBomber (and blogging for years now) under my real name.
• indeed, “M. Blind” is neither a nom de plume nor nom de guerre — though it quite handily looks like one, something I’ve used to my advantage for close to two decades on the internet. (I started at Georgia Tech in the Fall of 1992 and one of the first things they assigned me was an email address.)

So, I speak for myself. I don’t have a crystal ball or Mímir’s head in a bag. I’ve got the internets, a search engine, a cooler full of beer, some leads, and the burning desire to know.