Will the Nook ever be released?

One of the best ways to kill a product is to riddle the launch with delays, misinformation, and overall insanity and frustration. Barnes & Noble seems to be doing a might fine job with that as we speak. The Nook and it’s followers have been on a roller coaster ride for the past several weeks. Delay after delay has pushed the devices launch date closer and closer towards Christmas to the point that B&N is saying we shouldn’t expect Nooks to ship before Christmas. Hmm, somehow the people that pre-ordered these devices weeks ago with strong assurance that a pre-Christmas delivery date was a sure bet aren’t going to be too happy.

For now, prospective buyers and hopeful owners will have a new date to look forward to — January 15th. If we’re going to get all personal here, I’ve always liked B&N over Borders, perhaps it was the better cafe with actual functioning WiFi (Hey, what do you think I do when I go to a book store — it certainly isn’t reading books…) or maybe it was just the overall nicer layout and atmosphere. Whatever the case, this grand display of disappointment and extremely poor launch management is maddening to say the least. And I didn’t even order a Nook.

For now, I don’t think the Nook’s chances at the eReader market are being hit too bad, but if B&N keeps it up, I can see other eReaders making up for the loss. It’s a shame too, the Nook is by far one of the nicest eReaders to date. Though Engadget is reporting that a B&N rep has contacted them saying “select” stores will still have Nooks in by December 7th. This will definitely be a cross your fingers, multi-rosary, pray to whoever it is that you pray to ordeal. Feeling lucky?

Engadget