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| Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press |
The New York Times reported today that, even as the top book seller in the nation is putting itself up for sale, it is planning to "open 1,000-square-foot boutiques within its stores to promote the Nook" in the next couple of months.
With the sale of eBooks predicted to bring in up to $1 billion in the next year, the major players are scrambling for their share of the market. Amazon's Kindle is still top dog (having just listed their newest model as temporarily sold out), bringing in the top reviews and reducing it's cost to match that of BN's Nook (both selling models for $149 & $199). The Apple iPad is running a close third, even with the higher price tag of $549 - $849. Now Border's has tentatively thrown their hat into the ring with their own e-Reader, and of course the original Sony e-Reader is still out there too. Heck, I even saw a generic, color LCD e-Reader at Staples selling for $89.
The article also reports that the brick-and-mortar bookstore is becoming less of a destination for book buyers. More and more people are buying their books from stores like Wal-mart, Costco, and Target. And even those chains are showing a reduction in printed book sales. In fact, the reduction of Wal-mart's book sales has lead to the oldest mass-market publisher in the country opting to forego printed books in favor of an eBooks / print-on-demand model.
So, you might consider making a trip to one of those brick-and-mortar stores before they are a thing of the past.Labels: Barnes and Noble, BN, e-books, e-Readers, eBooks, eReaders, iPad, Kindle, Nook, NY Times
