As the adoption of Apple Business Chat grows, Barnes & Noble is the latest major company to jump on board the platform to offer a better customer service experience.
Amazon has begun issuing credit to accounts that qualify for a refund as a result of the price fixing settlement reached between Amazon and publishers. Customers are eligible for refund credit on ‘qualifying’ Kindle book purchases between April 1st 2010 and May 21st, 2012.
Less than a day until the launch of Apple’s iOS 7, Barnes and Noble has warned users of its Nook for iOS application of some potential incompatibilities with the new operating system. The potential issues can be seen in the copy of the email above. Barnes and Noble will prompt users when there is an update available to fix and address these issues. The company also warns that not all users will have incompatibility problems, and it is unclear which users will be the ones seeing the issues.
Just two short months ago, Nook manufacturer Barnes & Noble was telling the world that it was moving out of the tablet business and focusing on content. Now it appears the company is scrapping that new strategy and going full-speed ahead with their original plans (memories of Netflix’s Qwikster plans are brought to mind).
Although the Nook business has been hurting Barnes & Noble’s bottom line since its inception – and the revenue continues to decline – CNET is reporting that B&N president today stated the company “intends to continue to design and develop cutting-edge Nook black and white and color devices” and one new Nook will be launched before the end of the year.
With the company losing nearly $87 million in the last quarter and lack of CEO (former CEO William Lynch resigned back in June and the company isn’t currently looking for a successor) paints a sad picture for the ailing company.
Barnes & Noble announced today that it’s launching new apps on iOS (and Android and Roku) for its Nook Video service. The service offers a catalogue of HD movies and TV shows available to purchase or rent, and also lets users view their previously purchased Nook and UltraViolet-enabled movies and TV shows. The launch of the apps on new platforms comes following the company’s announcement in June that it was moving to cut its losses with its Nook tablet line and focus only on its e-readers.
NOOK Video delivers a growing and diverse catalog of favorite HD movies and TV shows from all the major studios, as well as many leading edge independent studios. Titles can be easily purchased or rented from the NOOK Store®with no subscription required. Customers can shop and add new releases, blockbuster movies, popular television shows, classics films and more to their NOOK Library, then instantly stream or download their purchases on NOOK tablet devices or through a NOOK Video App. Additionally, customers can easily shift their viewing experience across their connected devices by starting a movie or TV show on one device and then picking up exactly where they left off on another device linked to their account.
The free Nook Video app is available to download on iPhone and iPad now.
Barnes & Noble is launching Nook for Web today—a browser-based version of its eBook platform to compliment its other native reader apps. While B&N claimed the new web reader works with any PC or Mac supported browser, it does not appear to be supported on iOS browsers by default. The native iOS Nook app might seem like a better option, however, as noted by TechCrunch, because the app still requires you to purchase books from the web. Fortunately, if you want the complete Nook web experience on your iOS device, there is a way to access it.
Using the Chrome iOS app, navigate to the Nook for Web reader (here). From the menu in Chrome, select “Request Desktop Site.” It is not an ideal solution, but it is definitely usable on the iPad. For a limited time, you will be able to get six of the platform’s best-selling books for free to celebrate the launch.
B&N’s full press release is below:
Barnes & Noble Introduces NOOK® for Web, Giving Readers Instant Access to NOOK Books™ from any Web Browser – No Sign-In, Download or NOOK Required
Get Started Today with Six FREE Bestsellers Available through July 26
New York, New York – July 17, 2012 – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today introduced NOOK for Web, an innovative and free new browser experience that offers readers the ability to explore the hottest digital titles and bestselling books right from their computer – no sign-in, software download or NOOK account required to begin reading. With fast and easy access from any PC or Mac® browser, NOOK for Web seamlessly combines NOOK’s award-winning digital reading experience with access to Barnes & Noble’s expansive NOOK Store™. Now, anyone who loves to read can browse, sample and become instantly immersed in a NOOK-like reading environment from any browser, with support coming this fall for Internet-enabled tablets, smartphones and other mobile devices.
Beginning today, Barnes & Noble is offering six bestselling NOOK Books in their entirety at no charge for readers to try NOOK’s award-winning digital reading experience online. With popular summer titles the entire family will enjoy, customers can visit www.nook.com/NOOKforWeb to browse the list of complimentary titles available, including Map of Bones by James Rollins, Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell, The Vow by Kim Carpenter, The Boxcar Children Summer Special by Gertrude Chandler Warner, Brave by Tennant Redbank and Perfect Island Getaways by Patricia Schultz, instantly read the sample, and then download the entire book for free on any browser now through July 26.
“NOOK for Web makes it easier than ever for anyone – from NOOK customers to those experiencing digital content for the first time – to access and read books online,” said Jamie Iannone, President of Digital Products at Barnes & Noble. “There’s no need to download special software to access your digital library – NOOK for Web seamlessly combines Barnes & Noble’s best-in-class digital reading experience and unrivaled NOOK Store to deliver an immersive, easy-to-use solution for readers to consume millions of titles right from their Web browser.”
With NOOK for Web, it’s also now easier than ever for NOOK customers to read their NOOK Books virtually anytime, anywhere. The perfect complement to NOOK devices and free NOOK Reading Apps™, customers can simply go to www.mynook.com to pick back up from their last page read or start reading a new book using any Web browser.
NOOK for Web features the elegant, immersive digital reading experience millions of NOOK customers have come to know and love:
Through Barnes & Noble’s free, stable and secure NOOK Cloud™ service, NOOK for Web now gives existing NOOK customers even more flexibility to Read What You Love, Anywhere You Like™ with seamless account integration and synchronization. Customers can read any book from their personal NOOK Library by signing in using a valid NOOK account. Sync the last page read from a NOOK tablet or Reader, multitude of computing and mobile devices with free NOOK Reading Apps and NOOK for Web, and keep reading virtually anytime, anywhere – all without losing the page. And customers can send free NOOK Book samples directly to an existing NOOK Library to automatically access new content on the go from any NOOK device or one with free NOOK Reading Apps.
NOOK for Web is now available at www.nook.com/NOOKforWeb with no download required. Simply browse for books in the NOOK Book Store and look for the “Read Instantly” icon to begin reading any book.
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Barnes and Noble announced their Nook Tablet today, a successor to their now $199 Nook Color. The $249 dual core tablet is aimed squarely at the $199 Kindle Fire but has 10GB more (16GB total) storage and the ability to add up to 32GB via micro SD card. It also has a superior screen to the Kindle and the popular Hulu Plus and of course Neflix for watching videos. The app library is a much smaller subset of the Android market, however it is curated much better so only quality apps are allowed in.
Although we hear it a lot, the Nook Tablet or the Kindle Fire aren’t really competitors to the iPad. Realistically, if you have a budget for a $500-$830 iPad, you aren’t considering a $200 alternative … and vice versa. Sure all are “tablets” but it is like comparing a netbook to a MacBook Pro.
If anything, these cheap 7-inch tablets are competition for the $188 iPod touch (though with increased portability, superior app and content ecosystem and cameras -that too is a stretch). Price, being one of the biggest purchase considerations, puts these things more in line with the lower priced iPods. For people who want a bigger screen and don’t consider the many other advantages to being in the Apple ecosystem a plus, these might make sense.
If you had a choice between the two, would you choose a $199/$249 Nook or a $199 Kindle Fire?
According to Barnes and Noble’s website, the official Steve Jobs biography – titled Steve Jobs: A Biography – is becoming available on November 21, 2011. This is a big leap from the previously announced March 6, 2012 release date for the first Steve Jobs-approved biography. In addition, the book seller’s website has seemingly revealed the cover for the biography (shown above), and it is unsurprisingly simple. (via AllThingsD).
The book is also 448 pages long and is based on over 40 interviews with Steve Jobs in addition to interviews with his family and friends. Interestingly, although approved by Jobs, the Apple CEO had no control over the biography’s contents. The Apple CEO had this to say about the biography:
I’ve done a lot of things I’m not proud of, such as getting my girlfriend pregnant when I was 23 and the way I handled that, he said. But I don’t have any skeletons in my closet that can’t be allowed out.
Here is the full description of the biography (available for pre-order for $20):
Barnes & Noble’s all-new Nook e-reader is now shipping. The company announced via a press release yesterday that the new Nooks have been shipped to those who pre-ordered them. New orders placed via their website will ship immediately, in time for Father’s Day. The device will also be in stock at Barnes & Noble locations. The e-reader features a six-inch display with the latest E-Ink Pearl display technology that responds to touch input. It also surprises with other noteworthy goodies…