One tiny detail that went largely unnoticed about the “nook”, the slick new e-book reader that Barnes and Noble just released: the nook’s operating system is based on Google’s Android OS. Hmmm… Why would B&N develop the nook based on Android? Well, Android is a sick platform for developers, and they absolutely love building on it. So why not open it up and let others develop for the nook? According a person close to the situation, that is in the plans for the nook, and it will soon be able to run apps.
Now, we don’t know if this will become a full-fledged Android device, where the nook would enable a user to download anything from the Android Marketplace. Chances are it’ll be more like a mini-Android marketplace, for apps built specifically for the nook. Either way, it would be a sweet addition to an already-impressive device. Imagine having crossword puzzles, interactive books, games and the like on your e-Reader. Unlike the Kindle’s closed platform, this would theoretically be more open and would provide developers and book publishers with a clever way to improve the interactivity of their books. Of course, the nook has to take off before this becomes likely so developers have a real incentive to build on the platform. Time will only tell, but for now, the e-book race just got even more interesting.
If it’s running Android (which it is – v1.5), there’s no reason to not let it run apps. I’d be surprised if they went and incorporated full marketplace support or anything, but it’s totally reasonable that they’ll allow users to sideload APK files or release a small number of apps themselves.
since wifi is built in along with 3G tethering apps would be extremely popular. this may be a problem since 3G is free and presumably both AT&T and B&N want to keep limits on usage. and what about VOIP. these things would be turned into free cell phones.
if the baseband firmware is not set to proxy everything through B&N servers i am pretty sure the hackers will get this up and running in a matter of days. but to allow it only be trouble.
i could see a special B&N marketplace being setup with only apps that use very little bandwidth or are subscription based with sub. charges baying for bandwidth usage. my guess is that this is the plan and that everything will pass through B&N servers that limit access to only ‘allowed’ IP address to prevent the hacking from getting out of control.
the reason to NOT allow apps would be to prevent the ability to download ebooks from anywhere other than B&N. B&N doesnt want you to download any book u want, just theres.
You seem to be confusing the Nook with the Kindle. *Amazon* don’t want you to get books from anywhere else, B&N seem to be cool with it. They are making a big-ish deal out of the fact that it reads industry-standard ePub and PDF files, which need converting to run on the Kindle. If they didn’t want you get books from anywhere, they wouldn’t be promoting the fact that you can…
They would need to be cutsom made for the very unique screen dimensions of that bottom touchscreen. But as a developer myself, I would love to make some nook-specific games!
All this buzz about the Nook is simply so exciting! I could not resist, since I had been wanting to buy a reader for so long. Was debating whether or not to get the Kindle. The Nook seems to have it all. It does however only sell within the US and I live in Australia. I used US Unlocked and they pre-ordered it for me. Excellent service by the way!
Sounds familiar.
http://www.changeist.com/changeism/2009/8/31/e-readers-the-new-tablet.html
Another reason to NOT allow app downloads is to maintain focus. If a user buys a $300 device that can only display ebooks, the user has an incentive to load the thing up with ebooks purchased from B&N. If the device supports other features, it becomes more of a tablet causing less revenue to flow into B&N. Ebooks would simply become secondary in relationship to all the other things the device can do.
Hopefully it is ture…
Here’s a reason why they might limit the apps: if this thing really does come with free AT&T 3G connectivity what’s to stop a Nook user from abusing that? AT&T/B&N have done this deal anticipating only small amounts of traffic to enable to bookshelf browsing, purchasing and downloading. I can’t image they would be happy with end users gobbling up bandwidth with Youtube or streaming media.
Thoughts? Am I correct about the no-charge 3G connection? These devices do have that, right?
Personally I have no desire to own a Nook (or any e-reader) as a consumer but I would love to develop apps for it…even if the SDK only allows Nook-specific development.
B&N has their act together!
I have the sony ereader. and it supports any format out there. Can the nook support word docs or lit files?
B&N turned to Google’s Android operating system to power the Nook, which may be why it supports so many file formats, including PDF, EPUB, eReader, MP3, and PNG, JPG, and GIF image formats.
Reference: http://futurismic.com/2009/10/22/the-bn-nook-is-it-the-ebook-reader-weve-been-waiting-for/
Good luck!