Fast forward to a year later. Barnes & Noble has released the NOOK 2.0, named NOOKcolor. Now with a full color screen, the updated NOOK does see some increased popularity. We all know what happened next; it was rooted.
With root, a limited eReader turned into a quite reasonably-priced tablet, capable of accessing the Android Market to download games and other apps, including Gmail and other eReaders such as Kindle for Android. Suddenly, people couldn’t get enough of the device. Barnes & Noble saw their sales figures explode during the holiday season, driven by demand for the NOOK, which incidentally, became the best selling item in the history of the company, no small feat.
The company significantly exceeded both online and in-store sales forecasts, led by strong consumer demand for Barnes & Noble’s NOOK brand of eReading products. The company sold virtually its entire inventory of NOOKcolor and E Ink devices during the holiday season while exceeding its sales plan for accessories associated with the NOOK product line.
In addition, strong device sales helped drive eBook content sales that have significantly exceeded forecasts. Barnes & Noble.com comparable sales increased 78% compared to last year’s holiday selling season. Total sales at Barnes & Noble.com totaled $228.5 million, an increase of 67% as compared to the period a year ago.William Lynch, CEO, Barnes & Noble, Inc., stated: “NOOKcolor was one of the most sought-after gifts this holiday season and has quickly become the bestselling device at Barnes & Noble. And, even more encouraging to us, NOOK’s popularity is helping to drive new sales at both our stores and online, where 60% of NOOKcolor owners are new customers of our Barnes & Noble digital bookstore.”
So, what can we learn from the NOOK? Obviously, if you make a solid product and offer it at a low price people will buy it. But, more importantly, if said product’s software is hackable by deliberate or accidental design, an additional subset of the public will eat it up and the company gains additional profit; everyone wins (except for maybe those who screwed up the rooting process).
Clamoring for root is nothing new to the Android community. We’ve begged and analyzed and discussed to death without resolution as to why so many companies who develop Android devices lock them down so hard. Given enough time, I’m sure one could come up with a list of hundreds of reasons why manufacturers don’t allow rooting of their Android products. Though there is just one reason why they should: Profit.
With so many competing products entering the market, whether or not a device can be rooted is increasingly becoming a selling factor. Companies are driven by profit and success; to ignore and essentially turn away from additional sales is becoming an increasingly foolhardy approach. Eventually, the ramifications will move above the sales floor to the shareholders and boards of directors. We’ve been trying to tell you companies, ‘If you root it, we will come.’ When will more of you pay attention?
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Without root the nook is not worth it at all..once you root it makes a big difference…It can finally do a lot more…and I mean a lot
but having tested a few tablets so far my winner is the archos 101 at only 50 bucks more..cause even with root the nook had a significant amount of short comings compared to an open natively made android tablet
Thank you!
Everyone wins unless Barnes & Noble is selling these at a loss with the hopes of making up the difference in eBook profit. This _is_ a too-good-to-be-true value. The game console makers do that, maybe B&N does too?
I want one!
@harpocrates23 What are the shortcomings? Slow 3D? Thank you.
if you had used reply I would have seen this earlier
well it isnt native android like the archos so you wont find ALL apps and some may not run well. It has an 800mhz cpu instead of at least 1ghz and you will have to rely on devs for a decent rom.
Archos that I prefer has hdmi output, usb port for pendrives or any external storage, webcam, capacitive touch screen and all you need to get android market is gaps4archos.apk. Out of the box it upgrades to 2.2 and then you find the apk. Output to tv is amazing and a nice addon.
running the nook rooted and seeing how there are several issues…which will be corrected since many roms will come up…but i wouldnt suggest investing in it because it will get better..how about starting with something that already is better?
Plus a lot more devices are coming out.
if you had used reply I would have seen this earlier
well it isnt native android like the archos so you wont find ALL apps and some may not run well. It has an 800mhz cpu instead of at least 1ghz and you will have to rely on devs for a decent rom.
Archos that I prefer has hdmi output, usb port for pendrives or any external storage, webcam, capacitive touch screen and all you need to get android market is gaps4archos.apk. Out of the box it upgrades to 2.2 and then you find the apk. Output to tv is amazing and a nice addon.
running the nook rooted and seeing how there are several issues…which will be corrected since many roms will come up…but i wouldnt suggest investing in it because it will get better..how about starting with something that already is better?
Plus a lot more devices are coming out.
You are probably making a bit of a bold assumption that the reason for the NOOKcolor’s success lies in the fact that it was rooted. My wife had a NOOK “classic” (3G even) and when she saw that the “color” was full touch and still easy to view (the screen on the NOOKcolor is fantastic), she was ready to upgrade. Yes, the “hackability” meant that we each ended up with one and both were rooted within hours of getting home. Root, Market, ADW.Launcher home, and a few apps later, we are very happy campers.
For both of us, though, it is still an eReader first which just happens to do some other cool stuff.
nook sales rose after it was announced that it was rooted..coincidence ..maybe..but as a stand alone e-reader it was overpriced. without rooting it isnt even worth 150 dollars (regardless if other e-readers cost so much or more…they are generally overpriced).
nook sales rose after it was announced that it was rooted..coincidence ..maybe..but as a stand alone e-reader it was overpriced. without rooting it isnt even worth 150 dollars (regardless if other e-readers cost so much or more…they are generally overpriced).