This week Ba
rnes & Noble upgraded the software running on their Nook Color e-reader tablets. Users can now access apps, have email pushed to the device and watch flash videos.
There are a variety of reviews on the web (see: here, here, and here) discussing the anticipated update so here I’ll take a differ tack and discuss two things: what we learn about the evolution of technology in the Nook and what it means for adjacent categories like tablet computers (as opposed to tablet e-readers).
While their initial foray into personal electronics with the original nook might have been more than just an experiment, B&N moved relatively quickly onto the Nook Color. The original Nook was launched in November 2009 and while it was largely sold out during that introductory holiday season, there was likely very little opening stock available. By June 2010 the price had been cut consistent with pricing cuts across the entire e-reader category. Within a year of the initial Nook launch, B&N had a higher-end, full color screen e-ereader tablet and the Nook line collectively was “the company’s biggest bestseller ever in its nearly 40-year history.”
The transition to the Nook Color quickly became more than a segmented sales and marketing approach. B&N likely always – or at least relatively quickly – viewed the Nook Color as more than “just an e-reader.” Calling it Nook Color from the beginning was designed to delineate it from other e-readers utilizing black and white e-ink screens. In conversations B&N would refer to it as an e-reader tablet – suggesting both publicly and internally they were bought into the idea that it was – or would become – more than just an e-reader. On the landing page for the Nook Color, B&N calls the devices “the reader’s tablet” and highlights the msnbc.com review referring to the Nook Color as “the best value in the tablet world.”
Focusing on the tablet-esque features of the device is a brazen move given the number of tablets that are launching and the number that are already landing by the wayside.
At work here is of course the natural forces of technological evolution. Foremost, is Clay Christenson’s classic Innovator’s Dilemma. There is a natural tendency and market motivates that drive incumbents further up the value chain. This affinity is everywhere present in the technium.
Many/Most times companies make this move unbeknownst of the nature of the external motivating factors. Other times, companies move up the value chain (while abandoning pieces below) as part of a broad, preordained strategy. Take for example, Netflix. I find it peculiar a company focused on delivering physical media by mail at the time of its origin would name itself Netflix. Perhaps it has to do with the manner in which subscribers set their queue (by logging-on online), but I think there was always more there. Similarly, B&N has been positioning the Nook Color as an “e-reader tablet” from the beginning. Whether implicitly or explicitly, technology evolves up the value chain.
Rumors swirled early this year that B&N was discontinuing the Nook 3G. The Nook 3G is still available (for now). But given the evolutionary currents that influence technology, it wouldn’t be surprising if within 24 months B&N discontinues the original Nook with its synonymous for e-reader e-ink screen to hasten the entire Nook strategy into a “bet the farm” wager on tablets. Right now however, B&N is targeting a very specific consumer market with their e-reader tablet.
A month ago, I tweeted that Amazon would launch a tablet (this year). 
In the days following my tweet there have been wider speculations that Amazon would eventually launch a tablet (see here, here, and here). It will be interested to see how Amazon ultimately positions their offering. Will it be a tablet computer or a tablet e-reader? B&N has clearly positioned – and continues to position – the Nook Color as a tablet e-reader and therein lays an important distinction from tablet computers (ie iPod & company).
Here are a few of the key distinctions. By not providing access to the Android Marketplace (though I think the Innovators Dilemma might eventually change this) and instead proving a separate SDK, B&N limits the potential number of apps, provides an interesting trade-off for developers, and strives to keep consumers’ attention in an increasingly chaotic environment.
By limiting access to the Android Marketplace (and ultimately app selection) but by providing a separate SDK, B&N essentially ensures the most popular apps will be on the Nook Color, but nothing more. They have indirectly locked out lower-tier apps – an important element when dealing with the openness of Android. This will eliminate some competition from other service offerings (the competition for users’ time and attention). While it will require resources from developers and therefore produce some strain, the work to move to B&N’s specific platform shouldn’t be significant additional work for those already on Android. It also offers these developers another addressable market. This is important for developers of popular apps like Angry Birds that are looking to expand and grow a revenue stream.
The evolutionary currents influencing technology are continuously driving features together while at the same time pulling them apart. These forces pit convergence and divergence against one another. I’m frequently asked if convergence will win the day – I don’t think convergence can succeed (or even exist) without divergence. As quick as features are brought together, evolutionary forces will tear them apart and ensure single-purpose devices will succeed. (Despite Cisco’s decision to shutter the unit, Flip has been the most recent poster child of this).
The tango between convergence and divergence ensures there are overlapping features at different periods in the evolutionary process. This is at the root of “any content, any device, any time.” Adding features like email to the Nook Color will help it walk this fine line. Users won’t have to turn to another device to do simple tasks like email so engagement with the device (time dedicated to using the device) can increase, but at the same time it isn’t attempting to be a full featured tablet computer and can therefore co-exist with other devices.
It important to remember the evolutionary process is fluid – always in motion. Once a device shifts towards a given direction, it will continue to drift in that direction unless motioned in a different direction. Evolutionary currents are active. They continuously exert force on technology and devices.
