Microsoft Invests $300 Million in Nook to Take on Amazon and Apple in E-Book Market

[davidgrimm]

I strongly disagree with this comment. If you go into any Barnes and Noble Store, the Nook area looks like an Apple Store within a Store area. It takes up a good portion of the front of the store. Go to Barnes and Noble's website. What do you see? The Nook takes up almost the whole website. Moreover, Barnes and Noble was one of the few companies that refused to take a Microsoft license initially. Barnes and Noble is actively trying to sell the Nook.

Further, the Nook is actually a really good product. Compared to the Fire, its OS works better, it is faster, and you can do all the same types of things as the Fire. Moreover, Barnes and Noble is actually trying to innovate in the space it's new product with a LED lightening built into the frame is pretty cool.

I am an iPad guy, but if I had to choose between the Fire and the Nook, I'd go with the Nook.

I agree with you that they market the heck out of it and it gets good position in every store. What they don't do much of is get aggressive with the book prices. From a readers perspective, I think ebooks should be much more affordable than they currently are. Books are expensive to print and distribute, yet an ebook is doesn't have those same costs. No printing fees, no shipping fees, no store returns needed, - even pagination and layout are much simpler in the ebook world, yet titles often sell for only a few bucks less than the print version. B&N sells their products in the store for full MSRP, and that works for some buyers.

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What profits? Symbian was doing quite fine. Abandoning Symbian/Qt for Microsoft is what destroyed Nokia, nothing else.

Symbian was getting its virtual a$$ kicked by pretty much every other smart phone company out there. Sure it had some fans, but that was a small group.

I've heard good things of the new windows phone OS and that new Nokia. Mainly I hear the software is great.

I'm all for competition as it benefits everyone. I'm hoping MS gets beyond its string (ok, more like a massive rope) of epic failures. I hope they keep that Balmer guy, he's pretty entertaining (if you're not a shareholder or employee or developer).

 

[Josheh]

please, there are tons of closed-minded microsoft fanboys too

i have to deal with them all the time

(and disliking apple because of some fanboys? very strange philosophy

Are you serious? Did you even read what I said? I said I enjoy Apple's products and the philosophies that go behind them... you know, simple design, well constructed, that kind of stuff. I did not say I disliked Apple because of the fanboys. I said I disliked the closed minded people that associate themselves so heavily with Apple. You spot the difference there?

Also, I did say you get that with Microsoft too, the closed minded people. In my experience though there has been less of them as time has gone on. I've known a lot of people that opened up to Apple products, but still hold onto their PC roots.

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It isn't hatred so much as it is amusement + sarcasm.

Both of which Microsloth has earned in spades.

A lot of of what they've been doing for the past few years seems to provoke a lot of laughter and pity, from consumers and pundits alike. If this doesn't sit well with folks they should inquire with MS' board and have them figure out why they're still letting Ballmer T. Clown run the show.

See, I think you're trying to find reasons to dislike Microsoft. You scuff at them just because they are Microsoft. You find negativity in everything they do, regardless if it is there or not.

Apple and Microsoft have made some of the same moves, but it surprises me how often people totally ignore the fact. They praise Apple for the same move they scold Microsoft for.

I've found some great stuff to come out of Microsoft in more recent years. They've brought about a number of products that redeemed them as a company in my eyes. I haven't been laughing at them or feeling pity for them.

 

[coolbreeze]

whats a Nook?

It appears you are an internet user. There is no way you don't know what a Nook is. You are in Germany, so maybe I'm wrong...

At any rate.

www.nook.com

 

[smoledman]

Apple and Microsoft have made some of the same moves, but it surprises me how often people totally ignore the fact. They praise Apple for the same move they scold Microsoft for.

I've found some great stuff to come out of Microsoft in more recent years. They've brought about a number of products that redeemed them as a company in my eyes. I haven't been laughing at them or feeling pity for them.

For some reason Apple makes wise acquisitions(Siri, Anobit). Siri has already paid for itself in iPhone 4S sales big time. Anobit will as well down the line. Point is these are smartly priced acquisitions. Microsoft has a habit of making gigantic acquisitions(Skype????) with no thought as to how they will recoup the investment. I guarantee you, Microsoft will never find a way to monetize the Skype user base.

 

[bobborries]

They'll Ruin it

They'll ruin it.

 

[Renzatic]

Ha ha I'm going to give it to the misses. She is currently using a 2006 macbook and keeps looking at my 17' pro I'll give the macbook to my daughter who is a freshman in college and currently working on a 05' ibook. Then the ibook goes to my 14 year old son and I'm done for now.

Okay, I don't want to go breaking any hand me down chains. It'd make me feel kinda bad. But if you ever change your mind...yeah, you PM me.

 

[Josheh]

For some reason Apple makes wise acquisitions(Siri, Anobit). Siri has already paid for itself in iPhone 4S sales big time. Anobit will as well down the line. Point is these are smartly priced acquisitions. Microsoft has a habit of making gigantic acquisitions(Skype????) with no thought as to how they will recoup the investment. I guarantee you, Microsoft will never find a way to monetize the Skype user base.

They have made wise acquisitions though. The tech for the Kinect is a great example. The tech is incredibly cool, and they refined it and mast produced it. They made it affordable. Besides being a nifty (if a little gimicy) game controller, a lot of people have used it in some really great and creative ways. It's a surprisingly capable and advanced chunk of hardware.

 

[Davidb57b]

Innovation

Just because I hear the word "Innovation" thrown around in the wrong context here is the definition.

"Innovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, services, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society. Innovation differs from invention in that innovation refers to the use of a new idea or method, whereas invention refers more directly to the creation of the idea or method itself."

 

[GripperDon]

WOW! what a bunch of anger and jealousy

I am glad that Microsoft can gain entry fro Windows 8 and otherr products now if they can just avoid the "Apple Password Hell" I'll be happy. Their bring to market a eInk product was an innovation on the part of Barnes and Nobel.

 

[KnightWRX]

I am glad that Microsoft can gain entry fro Windows 8 and otherr products now if they can just avoid the "Apple Password Hell" I'll be happy. Their bring to market a eInk product was an innovation on the part of Barnes and Nobel.

You're mistaking their motive I think :

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/11/15/171201/barnes-noble-names-microsofts-disputed-android-patents

Barnes and Noble are one of the players who stood up to Microsoft's patent racket, refused to sign the NDA and reveiled the trash Microsoft was using to threaten other Android OEMs with royalty payments for "protection" (amongst which is the VFAT long filename patent which is highly disputed).

That is probably why Microsoft is now "investing" in Barnes and Noble. Shut 'em up, get 'em in-line so they continue their racket unabated.

 

[LagunaSol]

See, I think you're trying to find reasons to dislike Microsoft.

Some of us know Microsoft's history. One needn't "try to find" reasons to dislike them. They're right there out in the open.

 

[Josheh]

Some of us know Microsoft's history. One needn't "try to find" reasons to dislike them. They're right there out in the open.

Apple isn't exactly a bowl of peaches themselves. If I didn't want to deal with any company that has somehow bothered me with their actions than I'd have to move to the mountains and start a life of living off the land. Not saying Apple is as bad as Microsoft has been, just that every company does questionable things at some point. Neither of these companies though have offended me as much as some companies... like every oil company.

I don't always like the things that Microsoft has done, but that doesn't stop the fact that they have put out some good products, products worth liking.

 

[tigress666]

Apple isn't exactly a bowl of peaches themselves. If I didn't want to deal with any company that has somehow bothered me with their actions than I'd have to move to the mountains and start a life of living off the land. Not saying Apple is as bad as Microsoft has been, just that every company does questionable things at some point. Neither of these companies though have offended me as much as some companies... like every oil company.

I don't always like the things that Microsoft has done, but that doesn't stop the fact that they have put out some good products, products worth liking.

Wow, some one with a balanced view on companies and whether Apple is the most evil company in the world or a total saint (which it seems most people feel one way or the other about Apple).

 

[smoledman]

Apple is the most evil company in the history of the multiverse.

 

[Pigumon]

I love how people still compare a tablet to an e-reader.

Misinformed journalism at its best.

Why? How is a Tablet not an E-Reader? My iPad is. All tablets are. Why wouldn't you compare them?

Having said that, nothing in the title is "comparing". It's just stating MS is competing with AM and AP in the E-Book market, which both of them are in.z

Your comment ads nothing to this discussion.

 

[zap2]

Why? How is a Tablet not an E-Reader? My iPad is. All tablets are. Why wouldn't you compare them?

Having said that, nothing in the title is "comparing". It's just stating MS is competing with AM and AP in the E-Book market, which both of them are in.z

Your comment ads nothing to this discussion.

Well to be fair, there is some decent overlap, and companies like Amazon and B&N have been blurring that line, selling devices that share a product name with e-readers, while having most, if not all, of the abilities of a tablet.


While certainly devices like the Asus Transform and the iPad do more then Amazon Kindle Fire, there is still tons of over lap.

As far as comparing standard e-readers and tablets, while it's true you can read on both of them and I see why many people would only want one, each device brings something different too the tablet. Not to mention you're battery is split between two devices now.

The e-reader to me seems like it will become for a specific niche as more and more people as tablets increase things like battery life and size. There will stil be those who don't want to spend the cash for a tablet and/or they don't want a tablet(which are certain devices that require more set up and time to manage, while an e-reader is dedicated to one form of entertainment.


The short of it: Tablets can do the things that e-readers not, while few if any e-readers can match even terrible tablets.

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I guarantee you, Microsoft will never find a way to monetize the Skype user base.

Was that their goal though? If they are just buying skype to allows for the services to have the best user experience on MS platforms(although I don't know if Windows Phone has yet gotten big enough to cover the cost of the Skype purchase)

 

[steve-p]

Is B & N expanding to the rest of the world? I thought it was a solely stateside operation?

That may have been the most interesting point implied by the article, for those of us outside the US. I've never understood why B&N hadn't already tried for other major markets. Now they have their work cut out as Amazon has such a commanding lead.

 

[EbookReader]

Between this and if the US Dept of Justice anticompetitive lawsuit wins I am going to feel bad for authors who write books.
While I am all for competition I just feel if these companies race to discount books to gain marketshare that the only people that will truly be hurt are the small authors as well as new and upcoming authors. They should be compensated for their work at a fair price not a price driven by these large companies to win marketshare.

Authors are the BIGGEST WINNERS of the ebook revolution. Most authors just don't know it yet. Right now, ebook is around 25%...what happen in 2-3 years when it is over 50%?

Why authors are winners?

Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing offers 70% royalties on ebook.
B&N Pubit! offers 65% royalties on ebook.
Apple Publishing offers 70% royalties on ebooks.
Traditional publishers offer 17.5% royalties on ebook.


Authors write book. Hire freelance editors to edit (about $1,000). Hire cover artist to make a cover (about $250). And net 70% of the revenue.

Look at this blog: 135+ authors already sold more than 50,000 ebooks as indie (self-publishers).

Take Theresa Ragan for example. She tried for 20 years to get a book deal. Got close with a few editors but still no deal. She finally decided to self-publish in March 2011 because she wanted to get her books out there to readers. 1 year later, she sold more than 250,000 ebooks and made over $500,000.



“Publishing has only two indispensable participants: authors and readers…. any technology that brings these two groups closer makes the whole industry more efficient — but hurts those who benefit from the distance between them.” The Economist, 2008

 

[SBlue1]

Good luck MS!

 

[EbookReader]

As one poster in the other thread pointed out, the government does not object to monopolies. They object to price fixing and collusion. So if Amazon regains a near 100% share by "dumping" that's just fine with the government. Dumping is only illegal by foreign companies.

BTW is Amazon "foreign" due to the same tax strategies all the other big tech companies use?

Just askin'.

Amazon has consistently been profitable selling ebooks (read the DOJ complaint for source).

Selling 3 books at break-even/loss while selling 97 books at profits is NOT DUMPING.

Retail Stores have been doing this for decades. (loss leaders to get customers into the store and sell other products is not "dumping").

 

[musorah]

It appears you are an internet user. There is no way you don't know what a Nook is. You are in Germany, so maybe I'm wrong...

At any rate.

www.nook.com

B&N has no presence outside the US. The Kindle Fire is not available in the UK or Germany.

 

[KnightWRX]

Apple isn't exactly a bowl of peaches themselves. If I didn't want to deal with any company that has somehow bothered me with their actions than I'd have to move to the mountains and start a life of living off the land. Not saying Apple is as bad as Microsoft has been, just that every company does questionable things at some point. Neither of these companies though have offended me as much as some companies... like every oil company.

I don't always like the things that Microsoft has done, but that doesn't stop the fact that they have put out some good products, products worth liking.

Microsoft has kept the industry back for too long and because of it, we are behind where we should be in terms of interoperability, openess and innovation. I'm sorry, no amount of "hey, cool gadget" is ever going to excuse that in my and many other's mind.

Apple sure isn't so white to Microsoft's black. I'm the first to say so myself and criticize them over many matters (anti-competitive behavior in courts not to actually defend IP as some claim, but just to derail or slow down competition and other lock-down tactics, promotion of new standards instead of existing ones, etc.. etc..).

The thing is though, Apple never had Microsoft's level of control over the industry and probably never will. We'll see what happens with tablets, but it's not "there" yet. Hence, any damage they do is mostly reflected in their own user base rather than the user base of other platforms, which can safely ignore them. Not so much with Microsoft.

 

[Tiger8]

IMHO, Apple had everything ready for eBooks long before Amazon with the iTunes store. It was a baby step to simply sign up the publishers and make the iBooks section.

Audio Books on iTunes, for example, predates Amazon eBooks.

Ok I have to stop you right there, as much as I love Apple, Amazon were the ones that pretty much made eBooks a viable alternative to real books, before the original kindle in 2007, ebooks were just for geeks and 'get rich fast' internet ebooks, but the Kindle was truly revolutionary.

Amazon did to ebooks what iTunes did for MP3 music.

 

[techkidd4400]

Ok I have to stop you right there, as much as I love Apple, Amazon were the ones that pretty much made eBooks a viable alternative to real books, before the original kindle in 2007, ebooks were just for geeks and 'get rich fast' internet ebooks, but the Kindle was truly revolutionary.

Amazon did to ebooks what iTunes did for MP3 music.

I agree. And, Microsoft had plenty opportunity in the late 1990s to make a viable market for e-books (remember their ebook reader) and mp3 players, but they missed with half-baked innovations. I am glad they have the resources to try to make a 3-way competition for ebooks because consumers benefit from market competition. But, I suspect Microsoft will fail again and the Nook will be a casualty of this failure. god help Barnes & Noble.

 

[Rocketman]

Amazon has consistently been profitable selling ebooks (read the DOJ complaint for source).

Selling 3 books at break-even/loss while selling 97 books at profits is NOT DUMPING.

Retail Stores have been doing this for decades. (loss leaders to get customers into the store and sell other products is not "dumping").

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumping_(pricing_policy)

It appears DOJ is defining the market as a market of books. Therefore if individual book titles, which are the only interchangable commodity, are being sold below cost they are in fact being dumped, as defined.

Whether that is legal or not is another issue. Even if unlawful, the issue of selective enforcement certainly applies in political prosecutions, as with regulatory agencies which are arms of the executive branch, which itself is a "political animal". This year it is D.

I do not think titles are interchangable. The Krugman book is not interchangable with the James book or the Maddow book. They address different bands of readers with different interests.

There is some debate as to whether the Krugman book hardcover is in the "same market" as its e-book or even its a-book.

I suppose discussing softcover and languages would just confuse things.

The above link says in part: This is often referred to as selling at less than "fair value". Under the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement, dumping is condemned (but is not prohibited) if it causes or threatens to cause material injury to a domestic industry in the importing country.

I think we can agree that whatever the cause or legality Amazon has caused material injury to a domestic industry, notably the retail book business.

My primary concern is not the individual firms, the DOJ or even the customers, but the active and varietal access to free speech and commentary and instructional material which are critical to our form of self-government and civil society. So to me this is about "the people" not "the government" or "the firms". I don't want this to chip away at our methods of maintaining a free society.

High or fair pricing as defined by the authors and publishers is what incents the production of new content and content that is difficult to produce, such as a Bio-engineering book vs a novel.

Dealers just sell whatever is made. Supply creates demand. Investment (authoring and publishing) creates growth and employment.

Rocketman