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According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the world’s biggest bricks-and-mortar bookseller, Barnes & Noble, is planning to take on Amazon.com in the ebook market with the pending release of its own B&N branded ereader device. Kindle, look out. You may finally be getting some serious competition.
Does Barnes & Noble have what it takes to take down the Kindle? If anyone can, it’s B&N, because they’ve definitely got the library of titles to supply an ereader device with the ebooks it needs to stay relevant. What will it take to really challenge the Kindle’s dominance? A superior device that’s touchscreen-capable, and a killer price point. And throwing in some sweet extras — like the ability to surf the Net, perhaps — would be serious gravy.
WSJ claims that at least one of those requisites is sure to be met: they have insider info claiming that the B&N reader definitely has a touchscreen, with its own virtual keyboard. What else do they reveal? How about a planned pre-holiday release this year, a 6″ screen, and the same wireless ebook download capability that the Kindle offers (though there’s no intel yet on who the 3G carrier will be)? Barnes & Noble just relaunched its ebook store in July of this year, and they’re already offering an app for reading their ebooks on PC, Mac, iPhone, or Blackberry as a free download.
Sweetening the deal is an exclusive over at Gizmodo reporting that the device just might run on Google’s mobile OS, Android. Which would be flat-out awesome, because it would surely trump the OS of every ereader that’s been released to date. It would make surfing the Net a definite possibility, and… hey, are those downloadable apps I smell?
Oh, and let’s not forget that Barnes & Noble now offers free wireless in all of its stores. Could there be freebies and exclusives in the works, available for download only if you bring your B&N ereader into your local store? Seems like a no-brainer.
So it looks like we already know quite a lot about B&N’s hush-hush device. The only major question remaining is the price. I’m hoping that that on-the-small-side 6″ screen translates to a desire on B&N’s part to keep the price tag as low as possible. If they go for the jugular with an Android-based tablet that’s touchscreen controlled and priced under the Kindle 2′s current going rate ($259)…
Then it is so on.
Image: Robin Parrish.
