QUE proReader hitting Barnes & Noble retail stores in 2010
By Darren Murph 
posted Oct 27th 2009 9:09AM
posted Oct 27th 2009 9:09AM
QUE™ proReader by Plastic Logic to be Sold in Barnes & Noble Stores
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA and NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 27, 2009 – Plastic
Logic and Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller,
today announced that QUE™ (pronounced "Q"), the first proReader designed for
business professionals, will be sold through Barnes & Noble's nationwide
network of stores and online at Barnes & Noble.com (http://www.bn.com).
The distribution agreement marks an expansion of the relationship between the
two companies. Earlier this year, Plastic Logic and Barnes & Noble announced a
strategic partnership through which Barnes & Noble will power the online store
for QUE, which is coming in 2010 (information can be found at
http://www.QUEreader.com). QUE will also be featured near the recently
announced nook™, the Barnes & Noble eBook reader, on free-standing displays
with signage offering Barnes & Noble customers choice based on their reading
needs.
Scheduled to premiere January 7, 2010 at the Consumer Electronics Show in
Las Vegas (Central Hall of Las Vegas Convention Center, Booth 11840), QUE is
the first eReader designed to support the lifestyle of modern business
professionals. More than an eReader, QUE means business.
"We are very excited to name Barnes & Noble as our first retail distribution
partner and to have QUE featured prominently in its stores," said Richard
Archuleta, CEO of Plastic Logic. "QUE was designed from the ground up as a
tool for busy business professionals, expanding the eReader market as its first
and only proReader."
QUE provides access to a file cabinet's worth of documents, ranging from
business and professional newspapers, periodicals and books - with over 1
million eBooks available through the QUE store, powered by Barnes & Noble. It
supports the document formats business users need (including PDF, Word,
PowerPoint, Excel documents and more). Extra thin, lightweight and wirelessenabled,
QUE is the size of an 8.5 x 11 inch pad of paper, about a 1/3 inch thick,
and weighs less than many periodicals. QUE stands out in a crowd because it's a
business reader, but it's also unique for its shatterproof plastic display, which is
based on Plastic Logic's pioneering plastic electronics technology. QUE also
distinguishes itself with the largest touchscreen in the industry, an intuitive
touchscreen user interface, and powerful tools for interacting with and managing
a range of content.
"We're excited to expand our relationship with Plastic Logic to include not only an
eBookstore, but also a physical presence in our bookstores nationwide and on
BN.com," said William J. Lynch, president of BN.com. "QUE is an incredibly
innovative product and a great device for business professionals. Carrying nook
and QUE allows us to provide consumers a one-stop destination in Barnes &
Noble stores to demo and buy two of the best eBook readers on the market. It
also supports our digital strategy to offer customers choice, expand the market
overall, and deliver on our promise to provide any book, any time, anywhere."
Full product specifications, availability and pricing of QUE will be announced on
January 7, 2010 at CES.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA and NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 27, 2009 – Plastic
Logic and Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller,
today announced that QUE™ (pronounced "Q"), the first proReader designed for
business professionals, will be sold through Barnes & Noble's nationwide
network of stores and online at Barnes & Noble.com (http://www.bn.com).
The distribution agreement marks an expansion of the relationship between the
two companies. Earlier this year, Plastic Logic and Barnes & Noble announced a
strategic partnership through which Barnes & Noble will power the online store
for QUE, which is coming in 2010 (information can be found at
http://www.QUEreader.com). QUE will also be featured near the recently
announced nook™, the Barnes & Noble eBook reader, on free-standing displays
with signage offering Barnes & Noble customers choice based on their reading
needs.
Scheduled to premiere January 7, 2010 at the Consumer Electronics Show in
Las Vegas (Central Hall of Las Vegas Convention Center, Booth 11840), QUE is
the first eReader designed to support the lifestyle of modern business
professionals. More than an eReader, QUE means business.
"We are very excited to name Barnes & Noble as our first retail distribution
partner and to have QUE featured prominently in its stores," said Richard
Archuleta, CEO of Plastic Logic. "QUE was designed from the ground up as a
tool for busy business professionals, expanding the eReader market as its first
and only proReader."
QUE provides access to a file cabinet's worth of documents, ranging from
business and professional newspapers, periodicals and books - with over 1
million eBooks available through the QUE store, powered by Barnes & Noble. It
supports the document formats business users need (including PDF, Word,
PowerPoint, Excel documents and more). Extra thin, lightweight and wirelessenabled,
QUE is the size of an 8.5 x 11 inch pad of paper, about a 1/3 inch thick,
and weighs less than many periodicals. QUE stands out in a crowd because it's a
business reader, but it's also unique for its shatterproof plastic display, which is
based on Plastic Logic's pioneering plastic electronics technology. QUE also
distinguishes itself with the largest touchscreen in the industry, an intuitive
touchscreen user interface, and powerful tools for interacting with and managing
a range of content.
"We're excited to expand our relationship with Plastic Logic to include not only an
eBookstore, but also a physical presence in our bookstores nationwide and on
BN.com," said William J. Lynch, president of BN.com. "QUE is an incredibly
innovative product and a great device for business professionals. Carrying nook
and QUE allows us to provide consumers a one-stop destination in Barnes &
Noble stores to demo and buy two of the best eBook readers on the market. It
also supports our digital strategy to offer customers choice, expand the market
overall, and deliver on our promise to provide any book, any time, anywhere."
Full product specifications, availability and pricing of QUE will be announced on
January 7, 2010 at CES.
For one second, when I saw the picture, I thought "A New Air Mac"
Then, I thought about a waiter with a tray (cuz I am hungry people)
then I stopped assuming and read the title :D Keep the e-book market competitive B&N but don't overflow it please. e-readers is not something, I think, we need in huge numbers.
Ahahaha. I was thinking it was a new ultra thin laptop as well.
"e-readers is not something, I think, we need in huge numbers. "
This is just idiotic.
In the coming decades, the price of "readers" (slates, tablets, etc.) will hit the FLOOR!
Readers will be printed OLED/eink hybrid with capacitive touchscreen, or some other far superior tech that doesn't exist yet, there will be dozens of different sizes available, and the price will be so low that people will own several.
Print media is certainly on its way out, slowly but surely. B&N is doing the smart thing here. Obviously not many people will buy these things as long as they're this expensive, and limited in use, but once these things break the $99 price point, and they offer additional functionality beyond simply reading, EVERYONE will have one..
Imagine a full HD slate that's no thicker than a legal pad, and costs under $100. This product WILL exist in the coming (probably 10-15) years.
eReaders currently have major roadblocks to widespread adoption.
1. Price
2. conflicting standards and closed formats
Competition in the eBook arena has already started to lower prices. Did you notice Amazon do 2 back to back price drops on the Kindle around the Nook announcement? Also, in order to compete with he Kindle, all other manufacturers have decided to go with more open standards like ePub. I would frankly be surprised if Amazon doesn't open up the Kindle to epub by Christmas.
Flooding the market is a good thing for consumers. I don't hear a lot of consumers complaining about the market being flooded with laptops or flat panels when they can buy them for $400.
Yes it will lead to more comparison shopping, but in the end, everything you will be comparing will be better due to competition. You are ultimately less likely to end up with a poor quality overpriced device than if there is a drought in the market.
I've been interested in an eReader for a while, but this just floods the market even more. Kindle? Kindle 2? Nook? Sony? All the others, and now this, too? Yeesh. Hope some site reviews all these head-to-head-to-head to make buying easier.
I guess nook is kind of mass-market, and Que is premium product (8.5x11" size)? This probably will dictate a price of $350 or above all the way $400 for Que at which it will differentiate from nook, which is kind of sad.
QUE is WHAT in Spanish. QUE!?
¿Qué?
Even though I don't REALLY need this and I can't EXACTLY justify buying it, I sure do find the idea of an E-reader with an 8½ by 11 screen compelling, especially if it handles a wide range of files. If you can proofread Word files and dive into PDF instruction manuals all from the comfort of wherever you want to be (bed, comfy chair), that'd be pretty sweet.
I'm guessing this is B&N's answer to the Kindle DX.
I really want a nook, but my biggest worry is that B&N is not a hardware company and will let the device languish. This doesn't make me feel any better because it makes it seem like they just want to sell the books and just want to push any reader out there to get that service going.
I agree but remember that Amazon is not a hardware company either. They bought the technology - same as B&N. I think that B&N and others do not want Amazon to do to books what Apple has done with music. I am an advocate for Amazon but I think that they have a ways to go with the interface of their site as it relates to books.
B&N is not a hardware company, but they aren't making the nook hardware themselves. Plastic Logic, who is also making the QUE, is behind the hardware for the nook as well.
I agree with others that this seems to be going up against the Kindle DX, whereas the nook is the direct competitor to the Kindle 2. Given the very different form factors, I can understand why they would want to get behind both. I'm only curious as to why they aren't both branded similarly since they're both from B&N and Plastic Logic.
oooooh, somebody got a manicure...
I just bought a Kindle DX because I have no confidence in Plastic Logic releasing a product. By the time that they do I am betting that there will be competing color screen products. Hell by the time that it is released, I will have saved enough money for an upgrade on Kindle - do not let me down Amazon.
With all the delays in the Plastic Logic, I am also betting that there will some issues with the product. The last video of the screen showed that it was extremely slow. That will be something that I look for as well as battery life.
Indeed, in late 2008 they were saying 'early 2009'. Now it looks like it's going to be maybe 2010, but only in the US. Pretty annoying for a product based on a UK discovery.
B&N (and Sony) is like the older middle aged person who decides to get into computers, emails, and social networking and completely doesn't understand it, get it, or like it, but had to because their neighbor (Amazon) is Skyping, texting, twittering, Facebooking, blogging, iPhoning, and emailing and looking like they are having the time of their lives. This poor soul is quite proud of the new top of the line computer they just bought but haven't a clue how to hook it up, turn it on, and use it. They are bitter and wish for the days when phone calls and letters were all you needed aside from face to face.
" Amazon might want to consider implementing some kind of physical trial "
Amazon gives you 30 days to send the Kindle back if you don't like it. That IS a trial and they've had it since it launched.
that thing is pretty nice, but i don't know if i can use anything that doesn't have whispernet...
Heh. I wonder if the DEVICE is 8 1/2 by 11 or the SCREEN is 8 1/2 by 11. How much you want to bet the device is?
The device is (roughly) 8 1/2 by 11 the display is smaller. Think of the bezel as the normal margins in a printed on paper document and you have the idea. Ryan it does have a "whispernet" provided by ATT. Amazon wont be "opening" the the Kindle anytime soon because they have to lock you in to their store in order to profit from the device- they have to pay for that whispernet for life somehow.
Nook isnt built by Plastic Logic it's to be built by Inventec http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?ID=449677
"Inventec gets Barnes & Noble e-reader order
From Dow Jones Newswires
Friday 09 October 2009
Devices to ship in first quarter of 2010.
Inventec Corp. has received an order from Barnes & Noble Inc. to make 1 million e-readers for the U.S. book retailer, the Commercial Times reported Friday, citing unnamed sources.
Inventec, a notebook and server producer, will start shipping the e-readers in the first quarter of 2010 at the earliest, the newspaper reported.
Barnes & Noble operates the largest bookstore chain in the U.S."