Barnes & Noble to try to compete with iBooks on Apple’s own platform

U.S. bookseller Barnes & Noble claims to be unconcerned about the iPad’s threat against their own e-reader, the Nook. Indeed, they are so excited about the possibilities of the iPad that they are now promising iPad owners that they can expect to download their own free Barnes & Noble e-reading software just around the time of the iPad’s launch, which will allow individuals to buy any of more than a million eBooks as an in-app purchase.

In truth, it makes sense: the Nook’s not really doing much business, and the iPad is going to be huge. Unlike the closed ecosystems of other e-readers, Barnes & Noble can launch all feet in and essentially parasite off of the iPad’s success.

The question is: will Apple allow Barnes & Noble and Amazon to open competing e-book stores? I tend to doubt it: Apple’s taken strong stances in the past against the duplication of functionality, and they are going to want to keep a stranglehold on the iPad e-book marketplace, the same way they control the iPod’s music and video marketplace. The more booksellers on the iPad, the better from a consumer perspective… but I really worry that Apple’s going to stamp down hard not just on commercial e-reader apps, but fantastic existing apps like Stanza.

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About the author

John Brownlee is news editor here at Cult of Mac, and has also written about a lot of things for a lot of different places, including Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, Gizmodo, Kotaku, Lifehacker, AMC, Geek and the Consumerist. He lives in Cambridge with his charming inamorata and a tiny budgerigar punningly christened after Nabokov's most famous pervert. You can follow him here on Twitter.

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Posted in iPad, News |

http://breeno.org/rand Steve Breen
Salient point.
This is going to be very interesting to see how all this plays out in the marketplace…
It’s a tough point (protecting their channel vs prompting the platform) and I can argue both sides of it.
Simultaneously at times.
(Co-workers and family members tend to get very confused by all this split-personality style behavior… but I digress)
Edward Rendini
Interesting. If the app will have in-app purchase, then BN will have to hand over 30% of every sale to Apple…right?
I wonder how they make that work with Publishers/Authors.
minimalist
iBookstore doesn’t come preloaded on the iPad so will that qualify as “duplicating existing functionality”? And don’t forget the Kindle and B&N apps currently available on the iPhone and iPod Touch already allow books to be downloaded to the device (you just can’t buy directly in the app. You have to use your browser)
I think Apple strikes an reasonable balance between control and openness with music. Let other music store’s files be side-loaded onto the device and keep on-device downloading strictly for the iTunes store. The Nook does this too, if you want to buy out and about you have the B&N store. Otherwise you are free to load up ePub books from other sellers should you choose to. I hope this is the tack Apples takes with eBooks. If they start purging the B&N and Kindle apps from the store I think there will be a significant backlash.
http://www.thegeeklife.tv Richard
Whether or not Apple strikes a reasonable balance is open to debate. However, given that iBooks is not bundled indicates the approach they are going to take. The cat is already out of the bag on the iPhone and this could be a PR nightmare they don’t want if they tried to block the applications on the iPad.
Today’s update to Apple’s site indicates that ePub files can be loaded into iTunes and sync’d to the iPad. Since there are sources of free, non-drm’d ePub books out there already this is also a good sign.
On the other hand I am bothered by the word “parasite” as it is used in this article. B&N bought eReader, which was launched for the Palm back in the day. Was this a parasite on the Palm as well? Windows CE? iPhone? Apple is very, very late to the ebook game.
Proto732
Umm …
Amazon Kindle … Kindle App already available for iPhone.
B&N Nook … B&N Bookstore/Reader already available for iPhone.
They both already have stores/readers on iPhone … why is it a stretch to think they will have an iPad version?
They make money selling the books, that’s why they want to be on as many of your “screens” as possible.
minimalist
The question, Proto732, is does Apple want them to be “on as many screens as possible?” Because they certainly haven’t let the amazon mp3 exist on the iPhone. and they have already shown they won’t hesitate to yank apps that were previously approved. I hope I am wrong on this one.
phil
There is no way steve would let apps that are an alternative to the ibookstore ever make it past the approval process.
IcyFog
Well I hope Apple doesn’t stamp down hard on e-reader apps. Anyway the cat’s out of the bag really with e-reader apps for the iPhone and iPod touch.
foolindeed1
It feels like the author has no clue about the current state of eBooks market or needs to stop drinking Apple Kool-Aid. In fact, Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook are battling for the market while Apple’s iPad might not even be in play for eBooks with it’s LED screen and supposedly 10 hour battery life (in reality the battery will probably last half of that). IPad is a tablet which will be ruling it out with other tablets for a slice of a tablet market. It has nothing – and never will have anything – on any of the eInk screens and weeks of battery life of either of the real eBook readers.