Waterstone’s planning own ebook reader
From ebook magazine:
A Waterstone’s reader would need to be “at least as good, and preferably substantially better, than that of our internet rival” Daunt said, promising shopper would “have a much better buying experience purchasing your books through us.”
I thought that this might happen. Speculating on what would replace the long-running 3 for 2 offer, I recently wondered (offline) if Waterstone’s might have struck a deal with Amazon to exclusively sell their upcoming tablet. Instead, they’re going it alone.
It’s a good idea in theory, but they’ve got their work cut out. The market is completely dominated by Amazon et al, and they have no infrastructure in place – no existing ecosystem. To create that now, when many battles have already been fought and lost, seems like an incredible challenge.
Good luck to them though. Some kind of ebook/real book high street, hybrid store might – might – work.
