{"id":763,"date":"2009-11-29T11:53:48","date_gmt":"2009-11-29T16:53:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/?p=763"},"modified":"2009-11-29T12:23:25","modified_gmt":"2009-11-29T17:23:25","slug":"the-winner-of-battle-hoho-09-may-lose-the-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/2009\/11\/29\/the-winner-of-battle-hoho-09-may-lose-the-war\/","title":{"rendered":"The Winner of Battle HoHo 09 May Lose The War"},"content":{"rendered":"

It looks like the Kindle<\/a> will win the Christmas, 2009 E-War amongst the readers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

From all reports, B&N's Nook<\/a> has been selling well, but it looks like the company rushed the device to market before it had a good supply of the devices<\/a>.\u00a0 Nooks ordered now for Christmas gifts will arrive long after Santa's sleigh has returned to the North Pole.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Holiday sales do account for a large percentage of a retailer's sales.\u00a0 Additionally, B&N likely felt that not getting its device out for the Yule season would\u00a0mean the company surrendered the battle without fielding an army.\u00a0 B&N<\/a> didn't want to give Amazon<\/a> more of an advantage than the company already had.<\/p>\n

I haven't held a Nook, but I've held a Kindle.\u00a0 The device is amazing.\u00a0 It's like the keys to the kingdom for a life-long bookworm (like me).\u00a0 The 3G wireless connection means a reader can order a new book anytime, anywhere.\u00a0 No bookstore required.\u00a0 And Amazon has had the device out for a couple of generations so it has had some time to work out those kinks.\u00a0 My computer programmer hubby would, I think, always hesitate a couple of years before buying a Nook.\u00a0 Hubby says that the first generation of a program is bound to have bugs that will get worked out later, and he doesn't like to play guinea pig.\u00a0 (He also feels that if he writes a computer program that compiles on the first try that disaster looms ahead, but that's another story<\/a>.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

So Amazon enters\u00a0Battle HoHo 09 with experience in its corner.\u00a0 No matter how\u00a0formidable the weapons in the Nook arsenal may be, an experienced soldier is more likely to hit where he's aiming.\u00a0 When you add availability to experience, it looks like the Kindle will best the Nook this time around.\u00a0 Come on, no one wants to give their spouse a box bearing a note that their gift is on back order.\u00a0 You want to give your loved one the loaded box, to see the happy\u00a0expression when they remove the new gadget, to watch them play with it right then and right there because they can't wait.\u00a0 A delayed gift is delayed gratification and most Americans,\u00a0 especially including me, aren't good at patience.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The other team that's fielded an army is Sony<\/a>.\u00a0 Like Amazon, Sony has the big benefit of experience.\u00a0 Its reader has been out for a while.\u00a0\u00a0But the Sony Reader<\/a> didn't excite much interest until the Kindle entered the fray.\u00a0 One problem Sony has is the name. \"Reader\" is generic, but at the time Sony introduced the device, it didn't have much in the way of competition.\u00a0 Now that others are competing for consumer interest, the Sony name for\u00a0its device fizzles.\u00a0 The word \"reader\" will never immediately bring to mind Sony's device.<\/p>\n

What should Sony name its device?\u00a0 It could have gone for a play on the brand name, alluding to\u00a0its potential to\u00a0explode the market - the Sony Super Sonic.\u00a0 It could have expressed the way the device puts the world in the user's hands - Sony's\u00a0Globe or Sony's Fingertips.\u00a0 My favorite would have been an expression of the places\u00a0a reader can explore from a device that travels\u00a0in their backpack, purse or jacket - Sony's Magic Carpet or Sony's Abracadabra. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Although Sony's Reader has been out for a while and the standard versions should be fairly bug free, it is just now introducing a 3G wireless version to compete with Nook and Kindle.\u00a0 The wireless capability is what allows a reader on a train or miles from home to click a button,\u00a0buy a book and have it appear on their device almost instantly.\u00a0 Sony's 3G Reader won't meet Santa's sleigh loading deadline. The wireless\u00a0buy button is a neat feature, but is it a deal-breaker?<\/p>\n

The fundamental purpose of all of the devices is to allow readers to carry their entire library with them in one\u00a0small, portable package.\u00a0 After all, a buyer\u00a0can plug the Reader into a USB port on their computer at home and load it up in one session with all of the books they'll want to read over a vacation, or plan to get to over the next few weeks.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The lack of a buy button decreases the risk of an impulse purchase and in today's economy that seems to be a big selling virtue for Sony's current batch of Readers.\u00a0 The company may even be on the money with its timing for the 3G device.\u00a0 By the time it's out and in wide circulation, the economy may be better, allowing consumers latitude for more impulse buys. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Sony is NOT in a position to win Battle HoHo 09 but it may be in the best position to win the war.\u00a0 Why so?\u00a0 The Store That Sam Built - Walmart.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yes, Virginia, WALMART SELLS SONY'S READER<\/a>.\u00a0 And if you don't see that as a potential war-winning strategy, you haven't lived on Planet Earth for very long.\u00a0 B&N and Amazon have positioned their devices to be sold only in their stores.\u00a0 Lots of folks may do actual or virtual shopping in those places, but almost every pair of\u00a0feet in America walk through a Walmart with some regularity.\u00a0 In today's economy, Walmart is increasing its market share and that means that\u00a0more shoppers are being exposed to Sony.\u00a0 And the Store That Sam Built has an online presence\u00a0with a killer feature - you can order it online, and pick it up the next time you're in a Walmart.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Walmart is currently carrying the pocket edition of the Reader for less than $200 - Sam sells it for $198.\u00a0 It has a 5 inch screen and fits easily into a pocket.\u00a0 It has a long battery life and is easily recharged. The basic device\u00a0will carry about 350 books.\u00a0 It doesn't have memory expansion, so you would keep your permanent library on your\u00a0PC and move books back and forth to the reader.\u00a0 Frankly, 350 books is a lot of books and for those who own more ebooks than that, moving them back and forth from a\u00a0PC isn't that difficult.\u00a0 This device seems like the perfect way to introduce a bookworm buyer to\u00a0a Reader for a fairly reasonable price.<\/p>\n

The touch edition is priced higher - Walmart sells it for $298.00.\u00a0 It has touch screen functionality, and dual memory card slots to allow a buyer to carry his entire library, organized and categorized on memory sticks.\u00a0 It ALSO FUNCTIONS AS AN MP3 PLAYER, which is a big deal, especially for younger, college-aged\u00a0purchasers.\u00a0 It even has a stylus for taking hand-written notes.\u00a0 Still, it is priced higher than the base model Kindle or the current Nook and, from my limited hands-on experience, the Kindle has an \"experimental\"\u00a0basic web-browsing capability.\u00a0<\/p>\n

New users typically don't jump into a platform at the highest-priced level.\u00a0 The Pocket Reader is a good option for exploring the device and - I can't emphasize this enough - you can pick one up at Walmart.\u00a0 Americans tend to be loyal to brands that work for them, and a buyer who picks up a Sony Pocket Reader this year and enjoys it, is more likely to get a 3G wireless model as a Christmas gift for HoHo 2010.\u00a0 They'll likely buy that one at Walmart too.<\/p>\n

Sony isn't positioned to win Batle HoHo 2009 as this goes to press.\u00a0 However, if the company would drop the price on the Touch edition,\u00a0buy a whole lotta ad time to trumpet the MP3 feature, advertise availability at Walmart\u00a0and mass ship the devices, a last minute surge could put the brand over the top.\u00a0\u00a0 Absent that, with Nook not having devices available to ship in time to be under the tree, it looks like an\u00a0Kindle kind of Christmas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Christmas\u00a0tells the tale of only one season.\u00a0 The war is about overall device supremacy and nobody has yet won the war.\u00a0 All of the brands likely have more tricks to pull out of their hats and some of those may shade the ultimate outcome.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, if I have to pick an ultimate winner right now, my money is on Sony.\u00a0 Going into partnership with the Store That Sam Built is likely the single most important strategic decision the brand made.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It's tough to go broke betting on Walmart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It looks like the Kindle will win the Christmas, 2009 E-War amongst the readers.\u00a0\u00a0 From all reports, B&N's Nook has been selling well, but it looks like the company rushed the device to market before it had a good supply of the devices.\u00a0 Nooks ordered now for Christmas gifts will arrive long after Santa's sleigh ...continue reading \"The Winner of Battle HoHo 09 May Lose The War\"<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=763"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":768,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763\/revisions\/768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}