B&N eReader for iPad Coming Soon

[SlaughterS]

B&N eReader for iPad Coming Soon.

Read about it on the B&N blog: http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Unbound-nook-and-BN-eReader-Blog/eBooks-B-amp-N-eReader-for-i...

[SkeeterHarris]

Does this suggest that Barnes and Noble sees the writing on the wall and know that they can either adopt and support the iPad, or know that Apple will drive them out of nooky biz with their latest magical wonder?    With this coming will we ever see a gen 2 nook or just watch the nook die a slow and painful death on the way to global iPad adoption?

[mpebbs]

I think it means that B&N wants to sell BOOKS. It already has an ipod/iphone reader among others. The nook is their way of keeping up with the times as a platform to sell... yep you guessed it BOOKS!

[dElaphant]

The best part of that announcement was this:

"list of free eReader software ... which will be updated shortly for an enhanced on-the-go reading experience"

I take that to mean that we'll soon have syncing between devices, so we'll be able to put down one device and pick up another and find the same books, at exactly the same page where we left off. 

The iPad is just another device, and it's different enough from the nook (and twice as expensive) so it won't be a direct "threat". My guess is that it will cause an explosion in availability of ebook titles, and that in turn will cause some ebook price drops due to the old supply and demand principle. 

[FrogAlum]

I'm guessing we will have one of these in the family before the end of the year...  My daughter (23) loves anime and that seems to be a focus for some of the publishers with the iPad...

[ahintz]

I love my nook, but I also ordered an iPad today. Really happy B&N announced iPad support, and hoping wireless pages read sync is working on the iPad version; I'd love to be able to pickup on my iPad where I left off on my nook!

[Alley415]

dElaphant wrote:

The best part of that announcement was this:

"list of free eReader software ... which will be updated shortly for an enhanced on-the-go reading experience"

I take that to mean that we'll soon have syncing between devices, so we'll be able to put down one device and pick up another and find the same books, at exactly the same page where we left off. 

The iPad is just another device, and it's different enough from the nook (and twice as expensive) so it won't be a direct "threat". My guess is that it will cause an explosion in availability of ebook titles, and that in turn will cause some ebook price drops due to the old supply and demand principle. 

I doubt it will cause price drops.  If anything, it further divides the ebook market due to DRM. 

[dElaphant]

Alley415 wrote:

I doubt it will cause price drops.  If anything, it further divides the ebook market due to DRM. 

The DRM locks to the software, not the device. You'll be able to buy eBooks from B&N and read them on an iPad, as long as you use the B&N app instead Apple's. Plus you'll be able to choose between yet another major retailer when looking for the cheapest ebook prices - more competition usually brings about lower prices. 

But the biggest impact will be due to the number of people who buy iPads (unofficial guesstimates were that over 50,000 were pre-ordered in the first two hours) that it completely changes the market. A book publisher wants to make a target amount of money, if the market is small they need to charge each customer a high price to reach the target. If the market is huge, they can make the same amount of money by charging less and selling to more people, and if the customer base is significantly larger they can make more money by charging much less. That's what happened  with games and the iPhone "app" store - the price of games dropped from roughly $40-$50 to under $10 sold so many more copies that many game companies brought in amazing profits. 

So yes, DRM is an attempt to divide the market, and it does keep the prices artificially high. But as is always the case with DRM, it turns out to be nothing but a nuisance to paying customers and ineffective its intended goals. It's a minor factor compared to the potential increase in sales and profit.

In short, the iPad  means ebooks won't be a niche market anymore. We'll get mass-market prices. 

[JJNook]

I might get one for that reason

[Alley415]

I was referring to the contracts Apple will have that B&N and Amazon do not such as textbooks.  Add to that the ability to read books such as comics with lots of color or even publications with pictures and it has it's own market.  I doubt B&N or Amazon will go after color content in hopes that people will read it on another device.  They certainly haven't taken a large focus on the past with their other applications. I have an iPad on preorder and am excited to use it with my Kindle ebooks.  I actually think this will hurt B&N for those that get an iPad as they will now be able to take advantage of any pricing where Amazon is lower than B&N or B&N simply doesn't carry the ebook.  This may be why B&N didn't immediately jump on the iPad application bandwagon as others did.

[SkeeterHarris]

Initial Reports suggest that Apple Pre-Sold more then 50,000 iPads... Over the next 3 weeks there will be a lot of information that comes out about the iPad.  One area of interest will be how the device works as an eReader.  I for one see potential with iPad but will this device melt away in your hands like the nook does... I don't know.   Well I will be covering the new device roll out and in fact have a good video showing the next generation of books in my most recent blog post about iPad.

You can read my post and watch the video here