I made the comment to my wife a couple weeks ago that I'd be screwed if we had any sort of apocalypse (or lengthy power outage for that matter). After three moves in one year (and another one coming up in a few weeks), we got tired of lugging around dozens of boxes of books from state to state. After the last move, I donated more than a 1000 books to the local library, and replaced most of them with ebooks. I carry my library around in my pocket now, which is greatĀ but when the battery dies, it really sucks.
I have mixed feelings about Barnes & Noble. I was a regular at Oxford Books in Atlanta for many years, met my wife there, got married in the coffee shop. Not long after B&N opened up in Buckhead, Oxford started careening toward bankruptcy, due to a combination of bad management, too much debt, and sudden intense competition from a national chain. B&N killed off many many independent bookstores, and now ironically is being killed off by virtual competition. Not entirely sure how I feel about that, because I'd give a lot to be able to sit in the coffee shop at Oxford again chatting with the other regulars late into the night. From: Martin Baxter <martinbaxt...@gmail.com> Reply-To: <scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com> Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2010 06:16:31 -0400 To: <scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com> Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Barnes and Noble bites the dust "My hunch is that B&N never really embraced the Internet or e-books, tied as it was to the old-fashioned world of physical books and stores." Personally, rave, I think that just might be why I like B&N so much. I'm not big on e-books at all (I picked up a batch over the past few weeks, only because it was the only way I could get the books, as they're unavailable in print. E-books, for all the marvel they are, are dependent on tech to be viewable. If you've got a problem with your Kindle or iPhone or computer, you're SOL. Books don't break down, even when they fall apart. On Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 8:35 PM, Kelwyn <ravena...@yahoo.com> wrote: > > > > > > http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/110381/clearance-sale-barnes-nobl > e-didnt-evolve-enough?mod=career-leadership > > How did Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS - News) fall so far so fast? > > The giant bookstore chain, whose superstores once struck fear into the hearts > of independent booksellers everywhere, put itself up for sale this month, > rendering it the corporate equivalent of the remaindered books it sells at a > discount. > > The company said it made the move because its shares are undervalued, but to > me there was an air of desperation about it. > > The simple explanation for Barnes & Noble's decline is the Internet, which > spawned Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN - News), e-readers and digital books. But > that didn't have to be the end for B&N, which had a dominant market position > and should have out-Amazoned Amazon, leveraging its brand and innovating when > it began marketing and selling books online. > > I know exactly when B&N lost me as a customer. Some years ago, to compete with > Amazon, B&N began offering free same-day delivery in Manhattan if you placed > your order over the Internet by 11 a.m. I did so several times -- and not once > did the books arrive when promised. Everything I have ordered from Amazon has > arrived on time or earlier. Then came Amazon's game-changing Kindle, and > instant delivery. Nothing I've read about B&N's belated rival Nook has tempted > me to try it. > > My hunch is that B&N never really embraced the Internet or e-books, tied as it > was to the old-fashioned world of physical books and stores. As B&N focused on > managing decline, a much more nimble Amazon could concentrate exclusively on > the new world it was forming. B&N needed to destroy its business model to > prevail. Now it is probably too late. There is a lesson for all businesses > here. > > > > -- "If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script?" -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik
