NOOK is a brand by Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble Nook, usually called Nook, is an e-book reader developed by Barnes & Noble, based on the Android platform. The original device was announced in the United States on October 20, 2009, and was released on November 30, 2009 at a price of $259. The original Nook includes Wi-Fi and 3G, a six-inch e-ink display, and a separate, smaller, touch-enabled, color LCD display that serves as the primary input device. On June 21, 2010 Barnes & Noble reduced its price to $199, and announced a $149 Wi-Fi-only version. On October 26, 2010, the color Nook was announced for release on November 19, 2010.
NOOK History
The company was founded in 1873 by Charles Barnes in Wheaton, Illinois, as the Arthur Hinds & Company Book Printing Company. In the 145 years of the company’s history, Barnes & Noble developed into the largest bookseller in the United States. In early 2010, major investor Ronald W. Burkle attempted to acquire Barnes & Noble. This was successfully fended off by Barnes & Noble’s management. In December of the same year, Bill Ackman, owner of Pershing Square Capital Management and stockholder of Barnes & Noble competitor Borders, offered to take over the majority of shares. Due to declining book sales and strong competition from Internet retailers, sales have been declining for years. While sales were $7.1 billion in 2012, they fell to $3.7 billion in 2018. In 2018, the company posted a loss of $118 million.
NOOK e-book reader
NOOK 3G/Wifi and NOOK Wifi
Internal cover name Bravo. Since the beginning of 2010 (announced on October 20, 2009), Barnes & Noble has been selling its own electronic reading device (e-book reader) under the name NOOK (artificial word consisting of Noble and Book; Barnes could not be used because it would have resulted in Book again; moreover, Nook is the word for slip in English). Barnes & Noble is thus the second major book seller besides Amazon to launch its own e-reader (or one licensed under its own name).
The NOOK is equipped with a combination display, i.e. it has a reading surface in e-ink technology and a color touchscreen underneath. In addition, it is also Internet-capable via a mobile phone connection (either UMTS or WLAN) and connected to the Barnes & Noble store. The NOOK was offered in 2010 as a combination 3G/Wifi or Wi-Fi only (launched in May 2010). The NOOK (3G/Wifi, Wifi) has sold more than one million units (as of June 2010).
NOOK Simple Touch
On May 24, 2011, Barnes & Noble announced a successor model called NOOK Simple Touch. The previous Nooks were renamed NOOK 1st Edition. The new NOOK Simple Touch has only one screen, a touchscreen E-Ink Pearl display with a resolution of 800 × 600 pixels. The NOOK has an external microSD card, a battery life of 2 months (manufacturer’s specs), and 802.11b/g/n WiFi connectivity. Pre-sales started the same day, with the first shipments to customers announced for June 10. The retail price at that time was $139 (excluding tax), putting it between those of the Nook 3G and Nook Wifi 1st Edition. On the same day, prices for the Nook 1st Edition were reduced. Amazon countered the next day with the launch of the Kindle 3G with advertising at a reduced price.
NOOK Color
Internal camouflage name Encore (Encore). On October 26, 2010, the NOOK Color tablet computer was announced in New York. It has a 7-inch touchscreen IPS LC display (17.78 mm) and a resolution of 1024 × 600 with 169 pixels per inch (PPI). Currently, only a WLAN version is available. The NOOK Color has an automatic switch between portrait and landscape format, a built-in (8 GB) and an external memory (microSDHC). The operating system is based on Google’s Android and is version 2.1 at the time of initial delivery with a Barnes and Noble proprietary platform version 1.0.0 installed. The first update (1.0.1) was installed on December 19, 2010, and the second (1.1.0) in mid-January 2011.
The first reports describing the rooting of the NOOK Color appeared in mid-January 2011. On February 1, 2011, the first reports were published in which Google’s Android 3.0 operating system was successfully installed on a rooted NOOK Color, which was one day before the new operating system was officially introduced by Google.
On April 25, 2011, an operating system update to version 1.2.0 was carried out, which is based on Android OS 2.2/Froyo. This makes it possible to use Adobe Flash Player products. With the update, Barnes & Noble also introduces its own NOOK App Store, where applications for the NOOK Color can be purchased.
On April 2011, more than one million copies of the NOOK Color have been sold.
NOOK Tablet
On November 7, 2011, the tablet computer NOOK Tablet (internal camouflage name Acclaim) was announced in New York. This is a further development of the NOOK Color with a faster processor, more memory (16 GB internal, 32 GB on microSD memory card) and a built-in microphone. The tablet is lighter and a bit thinner than the NOOK Color. According to the manufacturer, the battery lasts for 11.5 hours (WiFi off). A special lamination has increased the screen’s brilliance and it now reaches HD quality. Netflix and Hulu are installed as apps. In June 2013, Barnes & Noble announced that it would stop producing its own Nook HD tablets; the devices would instead be manufactured by other developers and marketed by Barnes & Noble with the Nook logo.
PubIt
PubIt (Publish it) is a self-publishing service where anyone can publish e-books and sell them through BN.com. After setting up the user account, documents can be uploaded in various formats. These are automatically converted to EPUB format and listed on the BN.com website. The price of the e-book is set by the user, and the proceeds are split between the publisher and BN.com according to a predefined key.
The relatively open structure of this self-publishing service means that many books are offered multiple times by different publicists, especially popular authors whose copyright has expired. It is also possible to publish books in languages other than English. An example is books in German by Karl May, Kafka and Charles Dickens. Currently, Pubit supported Microsoft Word, HTML, RTF formats, as well as text files.
LendMe
This service allows the owner of e-books to lend the e-book once to a second person for a period of two weeks. During this period the own access to the e-book is blocked. The publicist must have agreed to this service. Currently, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, iPhone, iPod touch and Blackberry phones are supported.