Regarding the lending and library checkout features of the Barnes & Noble nook, I wouldn't say they're completely 'worthless,' as a friend of mine put it. They may in fact be quite valuable to many folks. Granted, the loaner feature is hampered since it only works once, but I believe the idea here is that it makes the experience more like a real book, and it certainly may boost B&N's profitability by encouraging more sales when your friend's loaner period expires and he hasn't finished the book and is therefore encouraged to purchase it. Amazon's Kindle doesn't have this feature yet and new ideas are always good for healthy competition to make the experience better for all of us.
I noticed a while back before the nook became available, B&N had much higher prices, but a quick check this morning revealed prices that are, in many cases, less than $10. I didn't see any books that were above that in bestsellers, and only a handful that above in the recommended section.
I think for the mass audience, B&N has a real advantage with physical stores since it can offer free previews, coupons for drinks and other offers for nook owners, and most importantly the ability to "try before you buy". $260 ain't cheap, especially for a book reader, so it could be a deal breaker for the Kindle unless Amazon partners with a big box retailer like Best Buy or Borders (but I imagine they will go on their own since they dropped Amazon as their web presence provider).
An unseen potential advantage of the nook is the underlying
Google Android operating system which could be exploited for apps, making it much more open than the Kindle. I think Apple will have it's work cut out for them if they intend to market a tablet PC as a book reader. Knowing Apple, the 'poor man's' model will still be around $700-$800. Granted an eReader ain't not PC, but still, that will be a huge price gap that few people will be able to overcome in this shit economy.
All in all, I'm anxious to have a look at the nook (sorry, I had to do the Dr. Seuss thing again) when I return to the States next week. I'm also anxious to see a Kindle which I have yet to do, to compare with the nook. Maybe I'll get lucky and find a Kindle user in a B&N café for a side-by-side comparison.
Bottom line: competition is a good thing for consumers and it looks like the crotchety old Barnes & Noble has launched themselves into the Internet age and will give Amazon a fair fight in this market.
P.S. If you have an iPhone, check out
B&N's eReader app [iTunes link], it's very nice. Dictionary/Google/Wikipedia lookup, free previews, highlighting/notes, find, autoscrolling, cover flow view and night mode (white text on black background, quite nice in bed).
P.P.S. you gotta love that it's the "nook eBook reader" say that 5X fast... nook-e, nook-e, nook-e, nooky, NOOKY! (not my joke, originally) I like the name and it makes a hell of a lot more sense than "Kindle."
What the hell is a Kindle? At least nook rhymes with book.
