Well, that didn’t take long: On
the same day that Barnes & Noble unveiled an updated Nook e-reader, Amazon
issued an advertising-supported Kindle 3G at a conspicuously low price.
The “Kindle 3G with Special Offers” retails for $164 and
features display advertisements from companies such as Buick and Visa. It follows
on the heels of a WiFi-only, ad-supported Kindle that retails for $114, and
which Amazon claims is the bestselling electronic device in its repertoire. The
regular, no-advertisements Kindle retails for $139, and the Kindle 3G for $189.
Even as Barnes & Noble seemed to focus increasingly on
full-color e-reading, with its Nook Color, Amazon continued to issue updates to
its grayscale Kindle’s capabilities. On April 20, the company announced a
Kindle Library Lending feature, due later in 2011, which will allow readers to
borrow Kindle e-books from more than 11,000 libraries in the United States.
However, Barnes & Noble hadn’t abandoned its own
grayscale efforts entirely. On May 24, the company issued a revamped Nook
navigable via touch screen. In addition to a
6-inch display, the new Nook weighs less than eight ounces, and Barnes &
Noble claims the battery will last more than two months on a single charge. It
retails for $139, with shipping slated to begin June 10.
That contrasts heavily with the Nook Color, which retails
for $249 and features access to 125 apps, enhanced audio and video for certain
titles, and a social-networking app that lets readers swap books and
recommendations. It also includes some decidedly tablet-like features,
including support for Adobe Flash Player and a single in-box for Web-based
email.
“Barnes & Noble is not targeting Apple with this device.
Instead, it’s targeting Amazon, trying to undermine today’s black-and-white
Kindle as well as tomorrow’s color Kindle tablet,” James McQuivey, an analyst
with Forrester, wrote
in an April 25 blog posting about the Nook Color. “Barnes & Noble may
have to come to market with is original e-ink Nook second, but its Nook Color
upgrade gives it the upper hand in the war over the serious reader.”
But it’d been an open secret that Barnes & Noble
intended to roll out another device: The
company’s May
4 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission indicated that “a new
eReader device” would be launched May 24. That not only unleashed rampant
speculation among bloggers about Barnes & Noble’s plans, but also
doubtlessly gave Amazon a little bit of time to prepare a response timed for
that date.
Despite the convenience of e-readers, some analysts see the
format as potentially devastating to the publishing industry in the long term.
“The book publishing industry has entered a period of
long-term decline because of the rising sales of e-book readers,” read an April
28 research note from IHS iSuppli, which predicted a decrease in book revenue at
a compound annual rate of 3 percent through 2014—a reversal from the period
between 2005 and 2010, when revenue rose.
That note quoted IHS iSuppli analyst Steve Mather as saying:
“The [publishing] industry has entered a phase of disruption that will be as
significant as the major changes impacting the music and movie business.”
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