If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the Amazon Kindle ebook reader is a huge success. Verizon Wireless, Vodafone and others – not to mention Rupert Murdoch – have hinted at their own variations on the device, as carriers pursue new revenue streams from embedded wireless gadgets with integrated services. Now US book retailer Barnes & Noble is said to be working on its own rival to Kindle, just as Amazon itself is reported to be readying a large-screen version.
The stealthy Barnes & Noble reader is likely to be the product that Verizon Wireless semi-promised last year, when executives said the company was looking to launch a challenger to the Amazon service, which runs on the Sprint network. However, according to reports on TheStreet.com, talks between the book retailer and Verizon have broken down, and Barnes & Noble may now turn to Sprint too.
Although there might be some conflicts of interest with Amazon, it is understood that there is nothing in the Sprint contract with the online retailer to preclude the cellco from supporting other offerings. Indeed, a brand-neutral stance on the network owner’s part will be vital to making a success of the embedded model in the future – when the operator will provide bandwidth for hundreds of different devices and brands, invisibly to the end user. Other sources say that AT&T may also be in the running for the latest book deal.
Last month, Barnes & Noble acquired digital book retailer Fictionwise for $15.7 million in a clear swipe at Amazon, and its new unit beta-released its eReader for BlackBerry recently. This is a free application for the RIM phones, and is also available for the iPhone and iPod Touch as well as Symbian and Windows Mobile smartphones.
Meanwhile, it seems Amazon may have been listening closely to Rupert Murdoch’s talk last week of launching a large screen e-book reader suitable for the newspapers and magazines published by his News Corp group. The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon will launch a large format version of Kindle – which could lead to some alliances with newspaper publishers – in time for the holiday season.