Apple's Beats brand in April unveiled the Powerbeats Pro, a redesigned wire-free version of its popular fitness-oriented Powerbeats earbuds.
Microsoft Invests $300 Million in Nook to Take on Amazon and Apple in E-Book Market
Microsoft and Barnes & Noble today announced the formation of a new Barnes & Noble subsidiary focused around the existing Nook digital e-reader and e-book business, as well as Barnes & Noble's college business. Microsoft will make a $300 million investment in the subsidiary, which is preliminarily being called Newco until an official name is chosen, and receive 17.6% ownership of the business.One of the first benefits for customers will be a NOOK application for Windows 8, which will extend the reach of Barnes & Noble’s digital bookstore by providing one of the world’s largest digital catalogues of e-Books, magazines and newspapers to hundreds of millions of Windows customers in the U.S. and internationally.As part of the deal, Microsoft and Barnes & Noble have also settled their patent dispute, which saw Microsoft suing for infringement by the Nook reader in a move Barnes & Noble had positioned as an attack on all Android-based systems. The new deal will see Barnes & Noble and Newco holding a royalty-bearing license on the Microsoft patents in question.
The inclusion of Barnes & Noble’s College business is an important component of Newco’s strategic vision. Through the newly formed Newco, Barnes & Noble’s industry leading NOOK Study software will provide students and educators the preeminent technology platform for the distribution and management of digital education materials in the market.
The Microsoft/Barnes & Noble venture seeks to increase competition in the e-book market, taking on both Amazon's dominant position and Apple's upstart status that has seen the iPad become a popular e-reading option for consumers but much lower adoption of iBookstore content. Barnes & Noble has had some success with Nook, but its momentum has slowed recently and recent antitrust suits against Apple and book publishers breaking down the new agency model for e-book distribution have raised concerns that the industry will quickly return to a near-monopoly for Amazon.
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94 months ago
Instead of innovating, just throw your money at somebody else's product. That's what Microsoft is good at.
Apple innovates, the others copy.
Nor is simply creating a new store of their own "innovative".
94 months ago
"let's use our money to buy into the market that apple is getting into instead of being innovative and building it from the ground up!". This is why I hate Microsoft. Lol
So...
NeXT -> Mac OS X, iOS
Astarte-DVD -> iDVD
SoundJam -> iTunes
NothingReal -> Shake, Final Cut
P.A. Semi -> A4, A5, A5X SoCs
Siri -> Siri
The list is of course longer : List of mergers and acquisitions by Apple (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Apple)
Even Apple "doesn't build it from the ground up!", do you hate them ?
94 months ago
Increased competition is a good thing. A two horse race is good for nobody. (See: American Politics)
I think 3 roughly equal competitors is the best combination to increase competiton while still able to have the companies maximize profits. That's why I would like to see Windows Phone do well. I'm sick of the iOS vs Android and WP7 is actually a pretty good OS which ISN'T just a blatant rip off of iOS....
I think 3 roughly equal competitors is the best combination to increase competiton while still able to have the companies maximize profits. That's why I would like to see Windows Phone do well. I'm sick of the iOS vs Android and WP7 is actually a pretty good OS which ISN'T just a blatant rip off of iOS....
94 months ago
Hope Apple is not as smug as many here are. Pride goeth before the fall as they say...
MS has $$$$ and can make some noise in this market if aligned with B&n. Good competition to keep Apple, Amazon and others on their toes.
MS has $$$$ and can make some noise in this market if aligned with B&n. Good competition to keep Apple, Amazon and others on their toes.
94 months ago
I love how people still compare a tablet to an e-reader.
Misinformed journalism at its best.
Misinformed journalism at its best.
94 months ago
I can see MS easily taking as much share of the e-book market as they have taken of the smartphone market.
94 months ago
Instead of innovating, just throw your money at somebody else's product. That's what Microsoft is good at.
Apple innovates, the others copy.
Yea because Apple never buys companies with good ideas and slaps their name on it. :rolleyes:
They made some noise with the Zune.
And have you noticed improvements to the iPod line have dried up since Zune was scrapped?
94 months ago
Instead of innovating, just throw your money at somebody else's product. That's what Microsoft is good at.
Apple innovates, the others copy.
How misinformed can one be. Yeah, Apple would never throw money at technology they need to compete.
94 months ago
Instead of innovating, just throw your money at somebody else's product. That's what Microsoft is good at.
Apple innovates, the others copy.
...you mean like how someone put Siri on the app store, Apple bought the company, pulled the app, and made it 4S exclusive? That kind of innovating?
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