General reactions to the new Nook announced today by Barnes and Noble were generally enthusiastic.
I’m most surprised by how they’ve been able to go from having zero hardware manufacturing exeprience hardly two years ago to releasing a credible device that seems up to the task to challenging the Kindle head-on. I didn’t think it’d be possible for them to climb such a hill; while they were certainly innovative, the first two Nooks weren’t exactly great devices.
But chalk that up to inexperience. They worked out the kinks and now the Nook gets it right in the places that matter: Size, battery life, ease of use and price. Amazon is going to have it’s work cut out for them.
There is obviously some good corporate leadership and vision at B&N. They’ve realized their current business model is a shinking ship. Rather than try and delay the inevitable, they identified a way to remain relevant in the print industry and set about doing it. All in an incredibly short period of time.
Color me impressed.