Tag Archives: Amazon Kindle

Barnes & Noble Introduces Color Nook

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Barnes & Noble has unveiled a Nook e-reader with a color touch screen and more social networking features that give the bookseller solid advantages over rival Amazon.com’s Kindle, while also giving avid readers reasons not to switch to more expensive tablet-style computers, such as the Apple iPad.

The $249 Nookcolor, introduced Tuesday, trades the black-and-white, E Ink digital paper display in the rest of the Nook family for a 7-inch, full-color screen. The new display takes the device into the business of selling magazine subscriptions and children’s books, many of which depend on color, so are unavailable for E Ink-based e-readers, such as the Kindle.

As the first full-color touch electronic reader, the Nookcolor stands apart from black-and-white competitors like Amazon’s Kindle. The device can be used to read books, magazines, newspapers and an expanded array of children’s titles. It also takes hints from Apple Inc.’s iPad with more games, Web browsing, music streaming and its own application store. Like earlier versions, it runs on Google Inc.’s Android operating system.

Color Nook

Color Nook

Barnes & Noble, which announced the product Tuesday, said it will begin taking orders for the device online and in stores on Wednesday and begins shipping in mid-November.


“I think Barnes & Noble did a pretty good job presenting this device as its own e-reader instead of just a cheaper version of the iPad,” said Simba Information analyst Michael Norris. “It is focused on the reading experience.”

E-readers are again expected to be popular holiday gifts, but competition has exploded over the past year — especially since Apple released the iPad in April. New models and price cuts for Amazon.com’s Kindle and new offerings from Kobo, Sony and others intend to compete with the iPad and other tablet computers.

Color Nook

Color Nook

Nookcolor’s features include full-color display on the new 7-inch screen; earlier versions offer color only on the bottom half of a dual-screen. It is lightweight at about a pound, making it easy to grasp while holding a cup of coffee in the other hand, and its battery is estimated to last roughly 8 hours between charges.

Barnes & Noble also is offering more digital books for the Nook, including more than 12,000 new titles for kids.

Other e-reader makers also are amping up competition. On Monday Borders, which offers several e-readers online and in stores, announced several offers that last the rest of this week. Shoppers can save $30 on some readers and get free shipping with online orders, or they can get a $25 gift card with a Velocity Micro Cruz tablet purchase or free e-books with a Kobo pre-order and 20 percent off e-reader accessories.

Also last week, Amazon said it would let e-book owners start borrowing books later this year, a service similar to one Barnes & Noble offers. And Amazon’s Kindle is now available at Best Buy, Target and Walmart, along with Amazon.com. The Nook is also available at Best Buy and Walmart and soon Books-A-Million stores, along with Barnes & Noble stores.

Traditional booksellers like Barnes & Noble and Borders are pinning their hopes on e-readers. Research firm The Yankee Group has forecast 6 million will be sold in 2010 and the market will grow to $2.5 billion by 2013.

Amazon profits boosted by Kindle

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The online retailer, Amazon, has reported a 16% rise in third-quarter profit, as its Kindle e-book reader continues to bolster sales.

Amazon made a net profit of $231m (£147m) in the three months to September, up from the $199m it made in the same period a year earlier.

Revenues rose 39% to $7.56bn.

But the firm also said that its total operating expenses rose more than 40% to $7.29bn, sending its shares down 5% in after-hours trading.

The Kindle launched in the US in 2007. Since going on sale in other countries, including the UK, in 2009, it has become Amazon’s fastest-selling and best-selling item.

Revenue from Amazon’s largest sales category – electronics and other general merchandise, which includes the Kindle – shot up 68% to $3.97bn.

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Amazon kindle Ebook reader

Revenue from books, CDs, DVDs and other media grew by 14% to $3.35bn.

Looking ahead, Amazon said it expected sales in the last three months of the year to be between $12bn and $13.3bn, representing growth of between 26% and 40%.


Mike Koskuba, an analyst at Victory Capital Management, said he was confident the retailer would continue to perform well.

“I do believe the holiday [season] is going to be really quite strong for Amazon. Kindles are going to sell exceptionally well,” he said. “I do think that general merchandise will pick up as well in the fourth quarter.”

Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader and the company’s digital book business have encountered accelerating competition, and Amazon had been boosting its marketing spending to promote the Kindle. Thursday, the company said its latest e-reader models are the fastest-selling Kindles so far, but it remained characteristically tight-lipped on specific sales figures.

In the latest period, Amazon posted a profit of $231 million, or 51 cents a share, from $199 million, or 45 cents a share, a year earlier.

Net sales jumped 39% to $7.56 billion, which would have been a point higher excluding foreign-exchange effects. In July, the company predicted $6.9 billion to $7.63 billion.

Gross margin inched higher to 23.5% from 23.4%.

Amazon projected fourth-quarter revenue of $12 billion to $13.3 billion, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $12.3 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.