[新鮮書市]美國最大連鎖書店B&N挑戰亞馬遜

B&N欲通過電子書商店和閱讀器挑戰亞馬遜Kindle

飽受批評的網上書店Barnes & Noble昨日推出了izji的電子書商店。這無疑是件大事，同時， B&N 宣佈將與Plastic Logic合作，且推出一款新的電子閱讀器，與Kindle競爭。目前，在B&N購買的電子書可以通過個人電腦和Macs閱讀，也可以在iPhone的藍莓手機上閱讀。B&N將提供大量電子書，以及比Kindle更加開放的閱讀器，軟件硬件都已經到位的B&N的確能對亞馬遜帶來挑戰。

Can Barnes & Noble Challenge Amazon's eBook Empire?

Barnes & Noble, the beleaguered （飽受批評的）online bookstore, opened its eBook store yesterday. That, by itself would be a major news story, but B&N also announced that it has partnered with Plastic Logic, which is expected to release a highly anticipated Kindle competitor soon. For now, eBooks bought through B&N can be read on PCs and Macs, as well as on iPhones and Blackberries. While iPhone and Blackberry apps are nice, though, no eBook vendor can really compete with Amazon without a good hardware eReader that is integrated closely with an eBook store. Given that B&N seems to have all of the necessary pieces in place, however, we think that the the company can indeed challenge Amazon, especially given that it offers a larger selection of books and plans to offer a device that is more open than Amazon's Kindle.

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Nice Mobile and Desktop Apps - But the Plastic Logic eReader is What It's All About

We tested the iPhone app yesterday, and it is indeed a very capable eReader app. It especially stands out because it gives users the ability to customize（定製，定做） everything from background and text colors, to what gesture users prefer to switch pages (swipe or tap), as well as line spacing（行間隔）, font size（字體大小）, and margins（邊緣）. The desktop app, which we tested on a Windows PC, is also very usable（可用的） and customizable, but doesn't feel quite as elegant as the iPhone app.

While the apps are good, though, the B&N eBook store will only be able to really live up to its potential once the company starts to sell the Plastic Logic eReader. While the Kindle is a great device, there can be no doubt that the design is a bit clunky（沉悶的金屬聲）. The Plastic Logic reader, however, looks quite slick, and thanks to its touchscreen（觸摸屏）, it also offers a sought-after （廣受歡迎的）capability that the Kindle currently doesn't offer. In order to compete with Amazon, though, B&N will have to sell the Plastic Logic reader at a price that compares well with Amazon's Kindles.

Wireless Store?

One feature that makes the Kindle stand out from its current competition is the ability to buy and download books wirelessly directly from the device. According to Plastic Logic, the company's eReader will also be able to transfer information wirelessly, though it is not quite clear if this will mean that B&N will partner with a wireless provider, yet. If B&N and Plastic Logic decide against this, though, this could give users an important reason to shun B&N's eReader/eBook store combo.

Can Barnes & Noble Compete with Amazon?

In the perfect world, it wouldn't make a difference whether you prefer a Plastic Logic reader, a Sony Reader, a Kindle, or an iRex iLiad. The Kindle has shown (and so did the iPod before it) that having full control over the hardware and content typically results in a more convenient and attractive package for consumers. In the long run, this will probably (hopefully?) change, but for now, we think B&N is doing the right thing by copying this model for its eBook store, though we will have to wait until the roll-out of the Plastic Logic eReader and how consumers react to it before we can really render a final verdict（交付最終宣判）.

As B&N decided not to compete on price (it sells most eBooks for the same $9.99 as Amazon and also offers free samples for every book, as well as a selection of books for under $5), the quality of the hardware, the number of available books, the openness of the store, and the quality of B&N's service in general will be the areas where the company will have to stand out. Given what we have seen so far, we think that Barnes & Noble might indeed be able to challenge Amazon's position in this market, especially given that we are still in the early days of the eBook and only a few consumers have picked sides at this point, and even fewer have actually bought an eReader yet.

Keke View：Barnes & Noble 巴恩斯諾布爾公司

該公司是個圖書銷售公司，其平均上架書目爲13萬種。而Amazon有超過一半的銷售量都來自於在它排行榜上位於13萬名開外的圖書。