Can E-Books Save Barnes & Noble?
Posted by: Douglas MacMillan on July 20, 2009 Digital downloads doomed brick-and-mortar music retailers like Tower Records and Virgin MegaStore. Now, booksellers are trying to stave off a similar fate by getting in the budding business of e-books. On Monday, Barnes & Noble launched an online bookstore and a new e-book reading application for PCs and mobile devices. The company’s eBookstore is launching with a collection of hundreds of thousands of bestsellers and classics comparable to Amazon’s offering on the Kindle, many marked with the price tag Amazon charges for its new e-books, $9.99. But rather than edge in on Amazon’s turf, analysts expect Barnes & Noble to generate wider interest in the e-book format among mainstream consumers. “If anything it helps build demand for e-book reading more generally,” says Forrester analyst Sarah Rottman Epps. According to the Association of American Publishers, sales of e-books grew to $113 million in 2008, up 69% from the previous year. But unli
