Barnes & Noble says its Nook e-book device, to be released by the end of the month, was not built with college students in mind.
“Nook is not designed to be a textbook reader,” said Jade Roth, the company’s vice president of books. “Nook is really designed to be an e-reader for pleasure, for relaxation on the go — not really for the educational space.”
Amazon said the same thing about its first-generation Kindle, but a few months ago it unveiled a larger model that it says works well for e-textbooks. Amazon is running pilot projects at seven universities this semester to see how students and professors respond to the devices.
For now Barnes & Noble has no plans for similar classroom tests. It will, however, sell Nooks in 17 of the 624 college bookstores that the company operates, as an experiment to see how well they sell there, said Ms. Roth.
The company’s college bookstores already sell electronic textbooks that students can read on their laptops or desktops.
Is the company planning a larger Nook to compete with Amazon’s Kindle DX?
“This is an enormously evolving marketplace,” said Ms. Roth. “Where it’s going in the next few years will be more formats, more features, and more functions.”
4 Responses to Barnes & Noble Says Nook Reader Is Not Ideal for E-Textbooks
psamuelson - November 24, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Fyi.
d_f_b - November 24, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Until they have decent color they’re not going to work for textbooks in my discipline or many others, I’m afraid.
lindelltyann - November 24, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Color – definitely. Plus intuitive note taking. Some textbook companies have ebooks that expire after 180 days – not good if it is a two semester class! The business model for this will be interesting to watch.
kosboot - November 24, 2009 at 5:07 pm
What’s interesting in all of this is the influence of piracy. There is a very big underground comprised of textbooks in virtually all subjects that students have scanned in order to ease the financial burden of colleagues. Why would I bother with an e-reader if I am aware that I or a friend could possibly download a free copy of a textbook?As with so many other businesses, the textbook industry is primarily concerned with achieving maximum financial benefit based on existing models. It will be interesting to see the kinds of changes they go through – and compatibility with existing e-readers is one of the issues.