Is B&N’s Nook A Kindle Killer?

David Coursey at PC World gives five reasons he thinks the recently-introduced Nook is a Kindle killer.

Numbers 2 and 3 are the only two that are “killers”, in my opinion.

The color display is elegant looking (we’ll see if it works as well as it looks), and could be a huge differentiator. The “more books” is nice, but I think the PDF functionality is the real win here. Trying one out in a physical store is a nice bonus, but probably not a killer feature.

I’ll be honest: I really want a book reader like Kindle or Nook. I have a ton of technical books, and I’d love to have them, plus the non-photography magazines I subscribe to, on something like them that’s easy to carry to and from work.

I like the Nook, but I really like Amazon as a company, and I’d prefer to reward them for not only being a good company, but having stuck their neck out and making this into a real market. That said, I’m not going to buy inferior hardware, especially at the premium price these are going for. I guess I’m still on the fence.

The possibility of Apple’s tablet being good in an e-reading role adds to the reason to stay on that fence, although I’m having a hard time thinking of a reason I’d want a tablet other than as an e-reader. And so far I think e-ink is the right way to go for that purpose, and no rumors have e-ink on the Apple device. The last thing I’d want is a glossy, backlit screen for a device that I’m supposed to read anywhere. Still, Apple does have a way of designing things I love, so I’d never knock them out of the race completely. And if the tablet has other uses I find compelling, like mobile video watching or something, that could allow for some compromise in the reading experience.

I guess I’ll stay on the fence awhile longer.

(Via Mike.)


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