Microsoft Invests $300 Million in the Nook
Microsoft and Barnes and Noble have announced that Microsoft will invest $300 million in the Nook and it will be spun off as a separate joint venture.
It may seem, just as Microsoft is on the cusp of releasing Windows 8, strange of them to invest in a rival platform that’s based on a forked version of Google’s Android platform. Aren’t they helping a competitor?
I see a few points here:
This is primarily about content. Supporting the Nook means gaining access to ebook content and controlling that access. It means Windows 8 tablet users will be able to read e-books without having to rely on Amazon.
Bolstering Nook also bolsters a competitor against Amazon; reducing if ever …
How much should an e-book cost?
With the kerffule this week over the US Department of Justice’s case against Apple and the large publishing houses, it’s interesting to look at what an e-book should actually cost.
Amazon has been selling e-books at around $9.99, which was a price point that created a lot of traction for the e-book industry and saw it taking a large part of book sales, even increasing the number of books bought per reader per year.
However, since the introduction of the agency price model, facilitated by Apple, the price of e-books has risen. According to several media sources, Amazon was making a loss on the sales.
For many, it’s confusing as to how it is possible that an e-book can even cost so much; given that the marginal cost …
