Not that every media outlet on Planet Earth doesn’t already have all of the details, but Team CrunchGear (Jimin and I… we’re right up there with The Mega Powers) is here at Barnes and Noble’s big reveal here in New York. Technically, we’re at Pier 60 right along the Hudson River. Not that you care.
Update: Hands-on pics added after the jump.
Seeing as though we’re not live, I thought I’d offer my take on what’s going on. Jimin is on pics, so full props to him for bringing a camera.
First impressions… well, they’re playing what I can best describe as Chicago house music. And there’s all sorts of blue mood lighting. It’s a very festive atmosphere, and with good reason: e-books are the future, so they say, and if Barnes and Noble screws this up, and cedes any more ground to Amazon and its Kindle, well, yikes. Early indications, however, are that the Nook won’t stink on ice. Silly name, but what are you gonna do?
The show was supposed to start at 4:15, but it’s now 4:20 and nothing has started.
Annnnnd it has started at 4:23, with the Coldplay song “Life in Technicolor.” I don’t get it ;-)
OK, Barnes and Noble CEO Steve Riggio is on stage. Just thanking people for coming, talking about BN’s history, etc. Nothing too crazy. He notes that the book industry is still bigger than Hollywood, video games, music, you name it. Reading in between the lines: please stop saying books are dead.
The president of barnesandnoble.com, William Lynch, is now on stage. Again, thanks everyone for being here, especially the book publishers. All the big names are in the house: Simon and Schuster, etc. He basically talked about the Web site’s effort to make it easy for people to find and buy e-books. Having bought several BN e-books, I can say it’s easy, sure, but not as easy as Amazon’s. In Amazon, the same search bar searches both dead tree books and e-books, while on BN you need to click the e-book tab or e-book drop-down to search for e-books. That is, you can’t, say, read the description and reviews of a dead tress book and then buy the e-book from the same page. He says consumers were looking for a “fun, easy to use” e-reader.
The big reveal~!
A video package plays, describing nook. (Note that the typeset for nook is all in lower case.) It touts the “crisp clear display.”
Lynch is now holding the nook, and everyone in the audience claps really loud. Like, it’s a really big ovation.
And now the design guys are on stage. They highlight the color navigation panel that’s at the bottom of the reader. They talk about how easy it is to search and type with the virtual keyboard, noting that the color panel goes dark when you’re not using it.
Rattling off specs: E-Ink, 16 shades of grayscale, PDF support, MP3, free 3G provided by AT&T (isn’t AT&T the one who’s complaining about their 3G network being overloaded as it is?), Wi-Fi, etc. By the way: there’s no Web browser, and you can’t buy the nook anywhere else but BN and its Web site. LendMe is what BN calls the ability to trade books with your friends, you can lend ‘em for up to two weeks. Malcom Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, read about two sentences of his book in stage. They emphasize that you can read your e-book not just on the nook, but on your iPhone or BlackBerry as well. In case “you’re stuck on a bus” they say. Fair enough. Lastly, they talk about all the accessories you can buy.
William Lynch is back. Can I say that, so far, this has been an absolutely perfectly paced press conference. Nothing is dragging on, and yet all the bullet points have been hit. Well done, gents.
On sale this holiday season, shipping at the end of November, at all BN stores, $259. But you knew that already ;-)
Oh, Lynch reveals an in-store nook mock-up display. Looks sharp.
And that’s it. Lynch thanks his team for all their hard work, etc. They play one last video on the Titantron, then everybody leaves.
That is all.
And by the way, that’s as close as they let us to the device. There are no nooks here for us to play with. Sorry~!
It runs Android so technically someone can place a Browser.apk file in and then be able to browse the internet for free on AT&T’s network..SCORE!
Aaron, I am hoping that this is true. I feel very strongly that the Nook needs a basic browser in order to hook me in (didn’t mean to rhyme LOL) as the Kindle already offers this.
If I can use this for Google Reader and basic web surfing, I’m sold and I’ll preorder today. If I can add a more polished browser that Android supports, well, I’d pretty much forget the need of a netbook.
I’m pretty sure someone could figure that out, Aaron.
I wrote up a post today explaining in detail why I pre-ordered the nook, let me know what you guys think.
http://www.ianmikutel.com/index/2009/10/20/why-i-just-pre-ordered-the-barnes-noble-nook-and-you-should.html
this would be absolutely amazing. but i believe a bit to good to be true. what about tethering?
So, how do you think the Nook will compare to the Kindle? I really want a ebook reader and have leaned toward the Kindle because of the Amazon store. Is there a reason to consider the Nook over the Kindle?
Mobile devices and applications will be the next great technology leap.
Hm. My initial impressions.
It’s caught between two worlds. A small color touch-screen. A second grayscale screen with big buttons.
It’s kinda… big. Both at the event and in the video demo on the website, it’s held awkwardly even by people with big hands.
The screen stutters. Flipping through books on the touch screen, or advancing pages on the main screen, seems “jerky” and not “organic.” That’s a big problem because the first thing you want in an e-reader is a feeling that it’s a natural experience.
Included 3G good, though.
I’m going to wait and see if there’s an Apple tablet before I pick an e-reader…
In response to Deleon’s remark, “Silly name, but what are you gonna do?”, I respectfully disagree. I do product marketing and think “Nook” is a dandy name. One syllable, solid feel to the word, and it conjures up “Reading Nook.”
Not bad but personally, I’d rather use my Dell mini as an ereader. It’s cheap and can read most any file.
It’s about time an e-reader is coming out with color, why has this been lacking so long? And they should have a browser, ‘hacking’ it to put one in there isn’t the most efficient way, but for those of us that know how to do it, it is definitely worth it!
They did not add in a browser so you can get the free 3G internet from AT&T. You think AT&T will be crazy enough to give free internet if a browser was included?!
after a browser the next two steps are VOIP and than tethering. this will may be a freeloaders dream come true.
Amazon needs to step up now. Especially with the ability to read your ebooks on the computer. This is really important for reference manuals.
Lending books … nice feature.
It would be nice if you could move books between a Kindle and a Nook but I am guessing due to bull-headed opportunistic thinking and DRM that this is years out still. =(
How dare you say Nook is a silly name!…
It’s my wifes’ name ;)
I like it a lot. This might push me over the edge to get an e-reader…
I kind of want to wait for prices to go down and screens to improve some more though. These seem to be catching on so I’m guessing in a year sub $200 readers with better screens will be available.
What processor does it use?
I think they should have played that one Limp Bizkit song during the presentation
I did it all for the nookie…
LendMe is a great feature. Also great news that they have 3G support and WiFi. Bad news – no browser and only BN books purchase.
Still, I would like to see this device go international like Kindle did, real soon. I’m in Asia and would love to see an e-book reader here soon.
there is a whole lot i want to know about the android implementation on this. is it a bare bones core with only ebook management capabilities? or is it a full blown OS that allows for marketplace and other apps to be installed.
up to now i have not had a lot of interest in ereaders, but if this thing can run android apps over AT&T for free i am getting one as soon as i possibly can.
Preorders up at amazon!
Just kidding ^_^
Too old to be up on the high-tech talk. How’s it compare with a Sony e-reader?