Expect Social Nooks
Barnes & Noble doesn't have a fanatical customer base. No camping outside stores (Harry Potter excluded) or online shenanigans designed to show off B&N pride.
The availability of the Nook on November 30 could change that. Hysteria may be an overstatement, but B&N could steal the show this holiday season.
The Nook will go social/viral/crazy.
Unlike the Amazon Kindle/2, the Nook e-reader allows people to share books for up to 14 days. Sure, sharing promotes sales of the books and the devices themselves. But that's not the big deal.
Imagine how the reading experience improves if digital highlighting, bookmarking and editorial commentary from the Nook syncs to a B&N online community. It pushes the "user-review" to an unprecedented level allowing the Nook to serve as the data entry point for You-Tube like personal commentary on literary works new and old.
Marketing messages will quickly move away from "The World's Most Advanced E-Reader".
Who cares?
The iPhone kicks butt because the interface is intuitive, most (ok, some) of the apps improve the experience, and most importantly, it makes your time-crunched, connected life easier. New message: 'Read. Share.'
There's no reason to think that online book clubs won't freely share titles to build a stronger sense of connectedness. Indeed, that is the point.
. . .
Let's face it. E-readers aren't yet a requirement of Internet life. By adding a social element to reading, B&N may shift expectations just enough to win big.
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