The Amazon Kindle Reader vs. The Nook From Barnes And Noble
Kindle vs. Nook
At the moment, the market for dedicated ebook readers seems to have turned into a straight competition between Amazon and Barnes and Noble.B&N has been a long way behind the Kindle for some time now, but the Nook reader has been recently updated and this could well help them to close the gap on the Kindle in the very near future.
Probably the most obvious improvement is the inclusion of a touch screen e-ink technology display, which a lot of people will find more intuitive and easier to use, and which also removes the requirement for a QWERTY style keypad.The reader can therefore be made smaller and lighter.
There was a bit of a spat about battery life.Barnes and Noble claimed that a battery charge would allow two months reading - twice as long as the Kindle.However, it turned out that Barnes and Noble's calculations were based on an estimated thirty minutes of reading per day.Amazon's claimed one month span between charges was based on an average of one hour's reading each day - explaining why they apparently had a battery life which was half that of the Nook.
The published Kindle battery life has now been increased to two months between charges - but Amazon has also made it clear exactly how that figure is derived.
In fact, it might just be a lot of fuss about nothing.E-ink technology screens only use power when the display is being changed - when you are "turning the page" in other words.In reality, the life of a battery charge depends not on how long you read for, but on how many times you turn a page whilst reading.However, unless you are a particularly fast or slow reader, it probably won't make much difference to you.
Likewise, whether your reader will last for one month or two, on a single charge is probably not a big issue for most people.It's long enough either way.You can set off on a long journey secure in the knowledge that your reader will have enough juice to keep you entertained until you reach your destination.You can go on a business trip or a vacation without needing to pack your charger.Those are the considerations that most people will take into account when picking a reader.
Having said that, such minor, and substantially insignificant, features are enormously important to both Amazon and Barnes and Noble and we may see further tiffs provoked in the Kindle vs Nook ebook reader fight during the forthcoming months.
The Kindle is Amazon's top selling product.Sales of Kindle readers and books are forecast to net Amazon something in the region of $ 4 billion by the end of the year.By 2012, Kindle sales are expected to make up more than 10% of Amazon's income.Considering that it's only three and a half years since the original Kindle launch, that is very impressive.
Barnes and Noble also seem to be enjoying similar success, albeit on a slightly smaller scale, with their Nook reader.Sales from their traditional bricks and mortar retail outlets may be down, but digital sales have increased by 50% over the same timespan.Sales of ebooks are now three times higher than sales of physical books - so the Nook is every bit as important to Barnes and Noble as the Kindle is to Amazon.
