Nook Color 2 = Beast mode Kindle Fire + $50

[Bateluer]

Are these nooks e-ink?

The nook First Edition and the Nook Simple Touch are e-ink, the Nook Color/Tablet are LCD.

 

[Zaap]

Give customers a little credit. They're smart enough to know that 1GB is greater than 512MB and 16GB is larger than 8GB. The Nook Tablet is going to sell well to mom's just as well as the Fire.

You're probably right, but when you step outside of your own tech-knowledge and view things it can be surprising how people base their decisions.

I was talking the other day to a lady who was on the verge of ordering "...that color Kindle". That's all she knows these things as. I said she might want to wait and see what The Nook has to offer. "The what?" I didn't know the stats at the time, but I'm willing to bet I could have mentioned 1GB vs 512 and SD card slots etc. and just be greeted with a blank stare to much of it. Her whole perspective was "I buy from Amazon all the time, I trust them. I don't care as much for B&N." Done deal.

I'd be willing to bet that non-tech people that already dig Amazon will tend to buy the Fire, and those that prefer B&N will buy the Nook- in which case, Amazon will clean house by default.

They've been really smart: just the term Kindle is virtually synonymous in many people's minds for a tablet you read books and maybe do other stuff with. Everything else exists in some other product universe. It barely registers for many that they could buy an iPad or (even less) a Transformer and read the same content with it as the Kindle.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Well I found my wife's Xmass gift. She wants something to read books and magazines on. I will gladly pay 50 dollars for a SD card slot and 8 GB more on board storage. I am a prime customer and the streaming videos would of been nice. But I can not have a media device that has 8 gigs of storage that is a deal breaker.

If it's for your wife, why make her give up free streaming video and the new free Kindle book loaning program for something she won't care about?

The largest Kindle book I own takes up 1.4 MB of space, so the Fire could hold 5,714 copies of it.

 

[s44]

why make her give up free streaming video

Because the Amazon video app will soon be released/hacked to every other Android device too...

 

[DaveSimmons]

Because the Amazon video app will soon be released/hacked to every other Android device too...

Ah, so he will make his wife use a rooted Nook, then keep updating the cracked Amazon app every time the DRM changes.

I'm not seeing why it's worth paying an extra $50 for that convenience

 

[alent1234]

because it will keep him busy and no time to talk to his wife. and when he does talk to her he is going to try to convince her how the Nook has better specs

 

[AstroManLuca]

Think I'll have to order two of these. Looks much closer to what I want than the Fire.

 

[Red Storm]

I don't see this affecting Kindle Fire sales much. $50 may not mean so much at the $500 price point, but at $200 you're talking about a 25% increase (and there's that magical "$199" that will attract many customers).

That being said, the Nook 2 sounds impressive. I'm still leaning towards the Transformer Prime though.

 

[quest55720]

If it's for your wife, why make her give up free streaming video and the new free Kindle book loaning program for something she won't care about?

The largest Kindle book I own takes up 1.4 MB of space, so the Fire could hold 5,714 copies of it.

Because we take a lot of ATV/camping trips in to the sticks were we won't have internet access. It won't just hold books it will hold apps/magazines/music and videos. The extremely limited local storage of the fire is just a non starter.

 

[Fingolfin269]

This is nice. Due to this and the fire one would think Apple needs to release a smaller iPad but who knows if they actually will.

 

[Dulanic]

I don't see this affecting Kindle Fire sales much. $50 may not mean so much at the $500 price point, but at $200 you're talking about a 25% increase (and there's that magical "$199" that will attract many customers).

That being said, the Nook 2 sounds impressive. I'm still leaning towards the Transformer Prime though.

I have to agree. If I didn't have a Kindle and a tablet and phone already... I would buy the Nook Color 2. Why? Because it is more powerful and has a sd slot.

However, this doesn't apply to the people that these are marketed towards. B&N's nook color was successful for 2 reasons. 1 is it drew the geek crowd for a cheap tablet and the 2nd reason is it was color ereader and they launched a good marketing campaign on that fact. I am willing to be the 2nd reason was the much larger reason. That reason is mostly gone now however as the fire does the same thing.

What reason does the average user have to go with the nook color 2 now? Not much. Sure it is a bit "faster" but again, this is media device and I doubt that is going to change most people. I think B&N lost their advantage from last time now and that the Nook 2 will be successful but not to the extent the nook color was. This round I think Amazon wins the 2nd crowd while B&N wins the 1st crowd.

 

[Munky]

I have to agree. If I didn't have a Kindle and a tablet and phone already... I would buy the Nook Color 2. Why? Because it is more powerful and has a sd slot.

However, this doesn't apply to the people that these are marketed towards. B&N's nook color was successful for 2 reasons. 1 is it drew the geek crowd for a cheap tablet and the 2nd reason is it was color ereader and they launched a good marketing campaign on that fact. I am willing to be the 2nd reason was the much larger reason. That reason is mostly gone now however as the fire does the same thing.

What reason does the average user have to go with the nook color 2 now? Not much. Sure it is a bit "faster" but again, this is media device and I doubt that is going to change most people. I think B&N lost their advantage from last time now and that the Nook 2 will be successful but not to the extent the nook color was. This round I think Amazon wins the 2nd crowd while B&N wins the 1st crowd.

That's a rather premature statement, IMO. If the original NC was such a success, then it already has a market base of users who will consider the NC2 before splurging on a Kindle Fire and its separate ecosystem.

 

[Red Storm]

That's a rather premature statement, IMO. If the original NC was such a success, then it already has a market base of users who will consider the NC2 before splurging on a Kindle Fire and its separate ecosystem.

That's the thing though. You aren't splurging for a Kindle Fire, you're saving $50 by going that route, and I'm willing to bet Amazon has a much larger customer base than B&N.

 

[SunnyD]

Only problem with the Nook is going to be B&N's fucked up Android framework. The App market B&N has is pathetic by any standards, and their hacked up custom Android framework means you HAVE TO root/hack the nook just to sideload regular android apps. The Fire - nope... the Amazon app market delivers plain old android apps, meaning the entire Android framework is pretty much intact.

The Kindle Fire should and will stomp this iteration of the Nook unless B&N abandons its crappy "proprietary" framework and market.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Only problem with the Nook is going to be B&N's fucked up Android framework. The App market B&N has is pathetic by any standards, and their hacked up custom Android framework means you HAVE TO root/hack the nook just to sideload regular android apps. The Fire - nope... the Amazon app market delivers plain old android apps, meaning the entire Android framework is pretty much intact.

The Kindle Fire should and will stomp this iteration of the Nook unless B&N abandons its crappy "proprietary" framework and market.

But I'd think the people who care about sideloading and accessing the full Android market are all planning on rooting it anyway.

The Kindle Fire might be a little better out of the box, but the Nook 2 will have much more potential.

 

[Zargon]

Are these nooks e-ink?

No, IPS LCD.

this.

apple owns the patent for a e-ink-ips display device and is doing what they do best, nothing.

 

[Bateluer]

this.

apple owns the patent for a e-ink-ips display device and is doing what they do best, nothing.

Wat? Why would you need an IPS E-ink display to begin with? They already look fantastic.

 

[trmiv]

I think I must purchase one of these.

 

[Red Storm]

Wat? Why would you need an IPS E-ink display to begin with? They already look fantastic.

Yeah I loved my Kindle's E-Ink display. I don't see what improvements it needs.

 

[podspi]

Not all of us (though 9-5 I'm a Windows developer not linux or mobile)

I still see the Fire doing much better than the Nook Tablet because:
- It's $50 cheaper and for consuming streaming media the Fire is just as good.
- If you shop at Amazon more than B&N (which is true of most people) then having a player for your Prime free videos and now free books, as well as your purchased books, music and movies / TV, just makes more sense.

Yea, the specs for the Nook do look better, but Amazon (unlike most of the other companies) have realize that specs are irrelevant for most of the market.

The experience is what counts, and the experience on the Fire (for the average consumer) is going to be awesome. As a Prime member already, the Fire is going to be the tablet to get, because of the integration w/ Prime, and the price. That + Silk might (probably will) make it the superior tablet for most people.

The major flaw with the Fire that I can see is the lack of a MicroSD slot. But if Amazon is clever enough about their content management, this shouldn't be TOO much of a problem.

 

[Doppel]

Oh well for the Nook. Fire will obliterate it. Even if its hardware is better the name is worse (Amazon > B&N) and its price higher. You can tell B&N is sh*ting bricks at this, since they're coming out only a day after Amazon.s

Don't forget, most people will never, ever root a device.

hrm, I might have to cancel my fire pre-order. actually, I should just cancel it because it won't have a stable custom rom for a while anyway =/

Keep it. I think we have decent odds they run into supply issues before Xmas and you can sell to some sucker for $260. That's the Christmas spirit

 

[poofyhairguy]

Because the Amazon video app will soon be released/hacked to every other Android device too...

I once thought that about the Xperia's PSX emulator.

 

[manly]

Hoping the "refurbished" Simple Touch drops another $15ish, I just want an E ink reader for now.

 

[Munky]

That's the thing though. You aren't splurging for a Kindle Fire, you're saving $50 by going that route, and I'm willing to bet Amazon has a much larger customer base than B&N.

That $50 savings comes at a cost of switching to a different ecosystem. Users who are already invested in the B&N ecosystem, particularly those who like their experience, are not likely to adopt a different system for a mere $50.

For example, B&N sells their ebooks in a common epub format, whereas Amazon has their proprietary ebook format. That alone will make switching to a Kindle Fire an impractical choice for anyone with a decent-sized collection of ebooks from B&N.

 

[Red Storm]

That $50 savings comes at a cost of switching to a different ecosystem. Users who are already invested in the B&N ecosystem, particularly those who like their experience, are not likely to adopt a different system for a mere $50.

For example, B&N sells their ebooks in a common epub format, whereas Amazon has their proprietary ebook format. That alone will make switching to a Kindle Fire an impractical choice for anyone with a decent-sized collection of ebooks from B&N.

I was looking at it from the perspective of someone who hasn't invested in either one beforehand. But even with your example, there are epub readers in the Amazon market, but no Kindle readers in B&N's market (I'm assuming). That means a B&N customer can take all of their books to the Kindle Fire, but not vice versa.