Hasta La Gadget!

Welcome to Engadget’s Back to School guide! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we’re here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd. Today, we have e-readers in our sights — and you can head to the Back to School hub to see the rest of the product guides as they’re added throughout the month.

Continue reading Engadget’s back to school guide: E-readers

Engadget’s back to school guide: E-readers originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 13:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looks like the battle for e-reader dominance between Amazon and Barnes & Noble could soon expand beyond the recent spate of price drops and into the courtroom as well: the USPTO just granted a 2006 Amazon patent on e-readers with secondary LCD displays (like the original Kindle’s scroller-navigation panel), and several of the claims are potentially broad enough to cover the Nook and many other devices with both electronic paper and LCD displays. What’s more, Amazon agreed not to file for any corresponding foreign patents during the four-year approval process and thus wasn’t required to publish the patent application — meaning this is likely a complete surprise to the entire industry. Yeah, it’s juicy. Here’s one of the claims that could cause problems for Barnes & Noble — in plain English, it potentially covers any device with both an electronic paper display and a second smaller LCD display next to it.

A handheld electronic device comprising: a housing; an electronic paper display disposed in the housing and having a first surface area; and a liquid crystal display (LCD) disposed in the housing proximate the electronic paper display, the LCD having a second surface area that is smaller than the first surface area of the electronic paper display.

That’s pretty sweeping — it doesn’t take much to look at the Nook and see that it has both an electronic ink display and a smaller LCD located next to it. Now, we don’t know if Amazon has any plans to actually sue anyone over this patent yet, but we’re guessing there’s a flurry of legal activity happening at all the major e-reader manufacturers right now, and we’re definitely curious to see what the fallout looks like — remember, Barnes & Noble is already involved in a trade secret dispute over the Nook with Spring Design, which claims that B&N saw its Alex reader under NDA and then copied it for the Nook. That case isn’t scheduled to wrap up before November, so there’s a chance B&N and Spring Design could end up simultaneously fighting each other in one case while taking on Amazon as allies in another, which would be… messy. We’ll see what happens — while we’ve no doubt Barnes & Noble will put up a serious fight if it comes to that, we’re curious to see if the shift away from e-reader development to general-use tablets hastens as the market contracts, margins shrink, and the cost of litigation becomes prohibitive. The ball’s very definitely in Amazon’s court now — stay tuned.

[Thanks, Anand]

Amazon Kindle dual-screen e-reader patent granted, Barnes & Noble Nook potentially in trouble originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The e-reader price wars is on. Amazon has cut the price of its Kindle e-book reader to $190 from $260 earlier. Amazon’s move comes in response to Barnes & Noble’s price cut on the Nook earlier Monday.

The Kindle will still be slightly more expensive than the basic version of the Nook. A Wi-Fi only version of the Nook is now available for $150, while a 3G model will cost $200.

With the latest round of price wars, the distinction between e-readers and tablets is also becoming clear. Tablets and E Ink-based reading devices are likely to co-exist by targeting different groups of consumers based on their purchasing power, the extent of interactivity they need and their reading patterns.

That means two sets of products: Tablets with color displays and lots of features that cost $400 or more, and inexpensive black-and-white E Ink-powered e-readers that will soon be available for $150 or less.

Despite the launch of tablets such as Apple’s iPad, e-book readers continue to be popular among consumers. About seven million e-readers will be sold this year, estimates Forrester. A recent poll by consumer electronics search website Retrevo showed 45 percent of casual readers–those who read one book every few months–say they plan to buy an iPad now instead of an e-reader. But among avid readers–those who read more than five books a month–only 14 percent say they will go for an iPad over an e-reader.

“In other words Apple will still attract many e-reader buyers but Kindle owners might buy more books,” says Retrevo in its blog post. The web site polled 1000 people through an independent panel.

That’s good news for Amazon and Barnes & Noble who are betting on sales of more digital books. E-readers such as Kindle and Nook will help them in that goal.

See Also:

• $150 Kobo eReader: The Real Kindle Killer?
• Acer Debuts New E-Reader, Android Phone
• Why E-Books Look So Ugly

Photo: Amazon’s first generation Kindle (Brian Vallelunga/Flickr)

No doubt feeling some heat from added competition in the e-book reader market thanks to new devices like the Apple iPad, Barnes & Noble announced today a lower-priced version of its Nook. The new Nook Wi-Fi dumps its predecessor’s 3G capabilities in favor of a lower price: $149.

The Nook Wi-Fi looks nearly identical to its predecessor, save for the color of its back, which has been changed from gray to white. The device is also slightly lighter, down to 11.6 ounces, from 12.1 ounces. The price of the Nook 3G has also been dropped, down from $259 to $199.

Barnes & Noble said it will offer a $10 refund to customers who purchased a Nook in the last 14 days – the difference between the new Nook price and a recent promotional price. B&N has recently been offering $50 gift cards with every Nook purchase, which could be used toward the price of the e-reader.

Barnes & Noble has also rolled out the latest version of the Nook software. The update enhances the device’s Wi-Fi connections.

UPDATE: Hours after the Nook announcement, Amazon also dropped the price of its Kindle e-reader from $259 to $189.

We knew it was coming, but not how soon, and we’d only guessed at a price. Today a tipster sent over this screenshot, however, clearly showing a Nook WiFi on Wednesday for $149. While internal databases aren’t the most reliable source for release dates even assuming the screenshot is legit, we’ll know for sure in just days. The question now is how Kobo stacks up.

WiFi-only Nook surfaces in Barnes and Noble database, costs $149? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Jun 2010 21:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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