Tough Year Ahead for E-Reading

2013 wasn’t a great year for e-readers. Sales of the devices continued to decline and a study released in December found that 60% of the consumers who downloaded e-books never read them. Michael Kozlowski, editor of the blog goodereader.com, is predicting more of the same in 2014.

First, E Ink will start moving away from e-reader technology. The e-reader business has been losing ground to tablet technology for more than a year and Kozlowski wrote that expansion into the digital signage market will be its next move.

The E Ink shift away from e-reader technology may be helped along if Kozlowski is right about Barnes and Noble. He predicted that since B&N makes more money on digital content sales, it will decide to give up on the Nook. He also expects Sony to give up on its e-reading devices to focus more on tablet and multimedia-based experiences.

He also predicted declines in both reading on tablet devices and e-books in general.

Reading on tablets will decline because manufacturers will move away from producing as many tablets in favor of more smartphones in 2014, which should produce more smartphone readers. Or maybe, with e-book sales flat or in decline throughout 2013, people will just head back to hardcover and paperback books.

“With the way things have gone in 2013 in the e-reader and tablet sector, some people may be optimistic about the future,” Kozlowski wrote. “I, for one, am not.”

Pearson Makes Investment in B&N, Nook

Pearson announced it would invest $89.5 million in Nook Media just three days after Christmas, joining Microsoft as a partner with the Barnes & Noble subsidiary. It was a move aimed at delivering the publisher’s digital content to college students.

“With this investment, we have entered into a commercial agreement with Nook Media that will allow our two companies to work closely together in order to create a more seamless and effective experience for students,” Pearson North America CEO Will Ethridge said in the release announcing the deal. “It’s another example of our strategy of making our content and services broadly available to students and faculty through a wide range of distribution partners.”

Pearson is banking that pairing with the Nook Media expertise in online distribution and customer service will make it easier for customers to find and access its digital learning material. However, the purchase also comes on the heels of news that holiday sales at B&N were weak and that the Nook segment would continue to be lower than expected. 

B&N, Microsoft Partner to Form Nook Media

The strategic partnership between Barnes & Noble and Microsoft is now complete and the new venture will be called Nook Media.

Nook Media will be a B&N subsidiary made up of its digital and college  businesses, backed by a $300 million investment from Microsoft. The partnership will help B&N continue its growth into digital content and allows the company to expand internationally, CEO William Lynch told The Wall Street Journal. Lynch added he expects Nook Media revenues to be $3 billion annually, but no decisions have been made for possible spinoffs.

“There can be no assurance that the review will result in a strategic separation or the creation of a stand-alone public company,” Lynch said. “Barnes & Noble does not intend to comment further regarding the review unless and until a decision is made.”

Nook Media does have one issue to address: The name is already owned by a Swedish developer of online gambling casinos, according to Digital Reader.

e-readers expected to be a top seller this holiday season

E-readers are expected to be a popular gift this holiday season and many e-reader companies have expanded the distribution of their devices to stores like Target, Best Buy, and Walmart. In addition, Amazon, Borders, and Barnes & Noble, have come up with new ways to promote their devices on the web or in the stores.

In an article from The New York Times, Peter Hildick-Smith, president of the Codex Group, says, “This is the tipping-point season for e-readers, there’s no question. A lot more books are going to be sold in e-book format. It also means that a lot fewer people are going to be shopping in bookstores.”

Forrester Research predicts that about nine million e-readers are currently in circulation in the United States and this could increase to 10.3 million after the holidays.

As mentioned previously, according to a survey by the Consumer Electronics Association, e-readers rank fifth on the holiday wish lists of adults.

e-reader accessibility

Recently Ars Technica compared the Kindle, the iPad, the Sony Reader, and the Nook to find out which device had the best accessibility features. Their research showed that the iPad and the Kindle are farthest ahead but there is still room for improvement. While all of the e-readers allow users to increase the font size, only the iPad and the Kindle include text-to-speech functionality. In addition, only the iPad and the latest version of the Kindle, the Kindle 3, include audible menus.

In a recent press release, the National Federation of the Blind praised Amazon for making the Kindle 3 accessible.

Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: "We commend Amazon on the unveiling of a new Kindle that blind and print-disabled people can use. In order to compete in today's digital society, blind and print-disabled people must be able to access the same reading technologies as the sighted. The National Federation of the Blind has long been urging Amazon to make its reading device accessible, and we are pleased that our efforts have come to fruition."

B&N’s NOOKstudy and Borders e-book store

Last week, both Barnes & Noble and Borders announced new digital initiatives.

According to the press release, Barnes & Noble has created a new study application for students of higher education called NOOKstudy. The application is currently being tested at several universities and will be available to all higher education students during the fall 2010 semester. The application is free and can be downloaded to PC’s and Mac’s. It enables students to download e- books and e-textbooks, take notes, tag content, search through both the textbook and annotations, and manage all of their digital content, including: lecture notes, syllabi, slides, handouts, trade books, and other course documents. Marketed as a study aid, the NOOKstudy may prove to be a convenient tool and interface through which students can organize, download, and read e-textbooks and other digital content.

As mentioned in a previous posting, NOOKstudy will be also be integrated with Blackboard Learn.

Also last week, Borders launched an e-book store that is powered by Kobo. According to an article from RetailingToday.com, Blackberry and Android reading apps will also be available.

Amazon patent could mean trouble for Nook and Alex

According to Crunch Gear, Amazon has a patent that may be broad enough to justify a lawsuit over other e-readers. The patent for a dual screen LCD/E-Ink device was filed in 2006 and recently granted. It could cover devices such as the Barnes & Noble Nook and the Spring Design Alex. We will have to wait and see if anything comes of this.

Amazon and B&N drop e-reader prices as Apple reports record sales

Earlier this week, both Amazon and Barnes & Noble announced price reductions for their e-reader devices just as Apple reported that it has sold three million iPads in three months.

A few analysts have commented on the news:

From The New York Times: “It was obvious that the price of stand-alone e-readers had to come down,” said James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research, citing the threat by Apple and other tablet makers. “We just never thought it was going to happen this rapidly.”

From Businessweek: “Their sales have obviously been impacted by the iPad,” said Charlie Wolf, a senior analyst at Needham & Co. in New York. “These price cuts are almost an act of desperation.”

B&N free e-book promotion

Barnes & Noble has a new promotion for consumers that use its B&N eReader software for the Nook or other devices such as iPhone, PC, Blackberry, and Mac computers. Consumers that bring their device into a physical B&N location can receive a voucher for a free e-book. Each week a new title will be offered for a total of five free e-books.

Nook owners can read for free in-store

According to a recent article, consumers that own a Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader can now access the full text of any e-book from the store’s library while they are in a physical B&N location. However, there is a one-hour time limit for each book each day. The article points out that this functionality gives B&N a unique offering and gives consumers a reason to visit the physical store.

eReader Resource

John Wiley & Sons recently developed a new website called eReader Resource to help consumers compare e-readers. Users can choose specific devices to compare or select desired features to see which devices match the specified criteria.

Kindles and Nooks available at new retail outlets

According to recent reports, Barnes & Noble and Amazon are reacting to the release of the Apple iPad by moving their e-readers into new retail outlets. Within the coming weeks, Amazon Kindles will be available at Target stores and B&N Nook e-readers will be available at Best Buy stores. According to a posting on BestTabletReview.com, Best Buy will also include the Nook e-reader software on select laptops, desktops, tablets, smartphones, and netbooks.

Barnes & Noble to release app for iPad

Barnes & Noble has confirmed via it's website that it will release an app for the Apple iPad. The app will allow users to access e-books, magazines, and newspapers from the B&N e-book store, as well as any content that was previously downloaded to their B&N digital library. According to the post, the app will be released “around the time of iPad’s expected availability.”

Survey finds that e-book buyers favor iPad

ChangeWave Research has released the results of a survey on the demand for the Apple iPad. The survey found that 40% of the respondents that plan to buy an e-reader in the next three months plan to purchase an iPad. The Amazon Kindle came in second at 28 percent, followed by the B&N Nook at six percent, and the Sony Reader at one percent. Many respondents said the versatility of the iPad is the reason that they will buy it for reading. The survey also found that 27 percent of the current e-reader owners would have purchased an iPad if it had been available at the time of purchase.

Review of the Nook e-reader

Engadget recently featured a comprehensive review of the Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader. The review includes information about how the device compares to the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader. There are also several photos and a video demo. Engadget’s overall take is, “In the end, the Nook is an intriguing product launched by a powerful force in the world of booksellers, but the initial offering feels long on promises and short on delivery. With the right software revisions, the Nook could be a tsunami, but as it stands right now, it's only a mild swell.”

As mentioned previously, the Nook sold out just weeks after its debut and well before the holiday season. The current expected ship date for new orders is February 1, 2010. For those of you that want to see the device in person, your local B&N may have a counter set up where you can try out the device.

Forrester’s predictions for 2010

Forrester recently released ten predictions for the e-reader and e-book market in 2010. The posting is worth a read and includes some interesting predictions to take note of. In regards to e-textbooks, Forrester expects that they will become more accessible next year but 2010 will not be the year that they take off due to the lack of content. “Publishers aren’t ready to relinquish control over how their content is sold and displayed. For example, the publisher-owned CourseSmart has a substantial content catalog for online subscription but isn’t available on portable devices other than iPhones, and won’t be available on new, textbook-optimized devices like the Entourage Edge because of the proprietary format and DRM that CourseSmart uses.”

Forrester also expects that Barnes & Noble will sell a significant number of Nook e-readers but Amazon will maintain its position as market leader by launching a suite of new touch-screen e-readers that could be flexible and include color. “Apps” will also continue to be a growing trend next year and more e-books apps will be available on more devices including e-readers. The posting notes, “We wouldn’t be surprised to see Amazon launch a Kindle app store, too. What kind of apps, you say? We think anything from a social-reading app from Goodreads to an enterprise app from Microsoft or Oracle would make e-readers vastly expand the possibilities for consumers and businesses.” In addition, the U.S. will continue to have the biggest market for e-readers and e-books but other countries such as China, India, Brazil, and Europe will begin to catch up and help drive global growth.

November is the best sales month ever for the Kindle

While the Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader is sold out for the holidays, the Kindle is still in stock and breaking sales records. On Monday, Amazon reported via its website, “November is already the best sales month ever for Kindle, even before Cyber Monday.”

Last week, Amazon also announced that a few enhancements have been added to the Kindle. New Kindles will now come with 85 percent more battery life and last about seven days with the wireless turned on or about two weeks with the wireless turned off. New Kindles will also come with a built-in PDF reader. Previously, users had to pay a conversion charge to convert documents from PDFs to the Kindle format. Users will now be able to e-mail the PDFs to their Kindle e-mail address or transfer the documents to the device with a USB connection.

An article from PCWorld, notes that this could make the devices more appealing for business users. Bill Brikiatis, marketing manager for Nuance Communications commented, "This holiday shopping season, ebook readers will be hot products. Ebook reader users will look to sync up the content they use both in work and personal activities on these digital devices." He went on to say, "Business professionals will want to add more content to their ebook readers--business reports and other work documents--following the well-worn path of convergence of personal and business usage on mobile devices."

Nook e-reader already sold out for the holidays

The shopping season may have just begun but it is already too late to order a Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader for the holidays. According to CrunchGear, the Nook is officially sold out and the new expected ship date is January 4, 2010. Mary Ellen Keating, spokeswoman for Barnes & Noble commented that, “Preorders have exceeded our expectations.”

In addition, Sony says that it can not guarantee that the new Daily Edition touch screen and wireless e-reader will ship in time for Christmas. Sony began taking preorders for the device on Wednesday and has posted a note on its website that says, “Preorders will ship Dec. 18 thru Jan. 8. Actual delivery date cannot be guaranteed.” Sony’s Reader Pocket Edition and Touch Edition devices are available but neither device offers wireless capabilities.

As a result, Amazon could see a boost to its Kindle 2 sales this holiday season. Last year Amazon sold out of the Kindle weeks before Christmas but so far the device is in stock.