A recent article by The New York Times discussed the future of Barnes & Noble, Inc. and its fight for survival against Amazon.
Buried toward the end is this brief announcement: “Barnes & Noble is trying to strike at Amazon with another device. At its labs in Silicon Valley last week, engineers were putting final touches on their fifth e-reading device, a product that executives said would be released sometime this spring.”
Deemed the world’s largest bookstore, it already has three e-readers on the market: the Nook Simple Touch, Nook Color and Nook Tablet. Each has its rival against Amazon’s Kindle line of e-readers, so a new device could give them the edge they desire against their competition.
However, no other details were given about the new device, which has led to much speculation as to what innovative technology it will offer to the public.
“Information about the new device has not been released to individual stores as of yet,” Jade Johnston, Nook specialist at the Galleria at Tyler store, said.
With numerous e-reader brands and types on the market today, consumers may have trouble deciding on a particular device. The Barnes & Noble website features “why Nook is best,” including their large selection of over 2.5 million books, easy-to-use design, media integration and in-store support.
Nook devices also have access to over 1.8 million free books.
“Barnes & Noble has something that no other e-reader provider does – we have over 700 stores that offer free in-store support for any Nook device or question people may have,” Johnston said.
With e-reading on the rise, Barnes & Noble is using the Nook to adapt to this shift in book publishing. The upcoming release of this new device will give consumers even more choices for how they read.
“Our recent Nook commercials and other ads have made a difference in their popularity. I see nothing but progress for the future of e-readers,” Johnston said.
