Barnes Noble Nook Essays

Barnes Noble Nook Essays Barnes Noble Nook Essay Barnes Noble Nook Essay Marketing Strategy Strategic Situation Summary: Market Target(s) Description: Barnes Noble Nook 1. Market Segments Identified- Middle-Upper Class, educated, moderate- high income, heavy internet user 2. Primary Market- Business travelers Percent More Likely Than Average U. S. Adult to†¦. Have accessed the Internet outside the home via WiFi or wireless connection (in last 30 days): 199% Have household income of $100,000 or more annually: 87% Have accessed the Internet with a cell phone or other mobile device (in last 30 days): 154% Be a Heavy Internet User: 116% Have a Bachelor’s or Post-Graduate Degree: 111% Be between the ages of 35-54: 20% Be male: 16% 3. Secondary Market- Education- High School students, College Undergraduates 4. Market Characteristics a. Geographic- Suburban – travel to cities for work or school b. Demographic- The following is a survey conducted for Nook Owners’ age distribution from 111 Nook owners 7. 21% Nook Owners between 10 and 19   8 out of 111. 21. 62% Nook owners between 20-29 – 24  out of 111. 17. 11% of Nook owners between 30-39 – 19  out of 111. 22. 52% of Nook owners are between 40-49 – 25 out of 111. 18. 1% of Nook owners are between  50-59 – 20  out of 111. 11. 71% of Nook owners are between 60-69 – 13  out of 111. Just 1 nook owner between 70-79. Just 1 nook owner between 80-89. c. Psychographic- Personality: Values: Primary Motivation: Ideals: Self-expression: Resources: d. Behavioral- User-status: Usage-rate: Purchase-occasion: Benefits sought: Objectives for the Market Target(s): Marketing Program Positioning Strategy: A. Product Strategy a. New Products b. Product Improvements: Incremental I nnovation NOOKstudy i. It will allow the student instant downloads for academic ebooks. It will allow students to search for keywords in lecture notes, syllabuses and more. ii. Its a desktop app that will work on Macs and PCs. When installed, it provides students with access to a wide library of textbooks for less than standard books. iii. Furthermore, the app will enable students to highlight and take notes that are searchable and customizable, and provide students access to all of their materials – eTextbooks, lecture notes, syllabi, slides, images, and other course-related documents – all in one place. Their digital library will be able to go from home, to the library, and to the classroom. B. Distribution Strategy C. Price Strategy: a. Of the 181 million US consumers who are online, 14%, or 25 million consumers, say that eReaders priced at $199 or higher - the current price range for eReaders - are expensive, but they’d still consider them for purchase at that price point. What this means: The maximum addressable market for eReaders as they are currently priced is substantial, but to reach the largest market possible, the prices will need to come down. Still, they have phenomenal social and economic impact as they catalyze a new behavior of digital reading across multiple devices. We’re just at the beginning of this revolution. [pic] D. Promotion Strategy a. Advertising i. Banner ads inside books. The average U. S. adult reads four books a year; with a population of 250 million you get 1 billion books digested annually. At 200 pages per book, thats 200 billion potential ad impressions if just one ad was placed at the bottom of each page. Now, charge a $20 CPM for such premium placement and you have just unlocked a $4 billion advertising market. This concept can extend to college textbooks with coupons for partners, such as Starbucks Coffee. ii. Readers give advertisers more consumer attention because readers cannot easily surf away to other websites. Advertisers would win higher response rates because the ads are much more noticeable and could be contextually targeted to content and the users personal information disclosed by their book purchases. b. Publicity c. Internet d. Personal Selling e. Sales Promotion i. Visit any Barnes Noble store and show y our NOOK or mobile device to one of our booksellers, and receive a voucher for the FREE eBook. The voucher will require recipients to enter an online code to receive the free eBook. This will create more movement to the website and to promote other product offerings. E. Marketing Research F. Coordination with Other Business Functions [pic] Mediamark says there are approximately 2. 1 million US adults who own eReaders. Available this week, the new Nook WiFi device is priced at just US$149. The price on the existing Nook 3G, meanwhile, was slashed from $259 to $199, making it the first under-$200 dedicated e-reader with both free 3G wireless and WiFi, according to the company. Barnes Noble now offers all Nook users complimentary access to ATTs (NYSE: T) entire nationwide WiFi network. Its eBookstore now boasts more than one million e-books, periodicals and other digital content, the company said. Under-$200 is always a new product categorys sweet spot, and BN is probably selling the Nook at a slim margin or even a loss in order to gain market share and brand share in the digital book distribution world. Price, meanwhile, is a very important factor in that competition particularly the sub-$200 price point, which is psychologically very important for consumer adoption, she asserted. Any time you deflate the margin on a product by merely adjusting price, it has consequences to the bottom line, he explained. Another option to just dropping price would have been to add a coupon for up to $50 worth of content; this would have fulfilled the urge to drop price however would have kept topline revenue flat. Style: The Nook has a color menu, whereas the entire Kindle display is focused on black and white, he explained. The Nook is lighter. The Nook is now cheaper and the Nook is a little more aesthetically appealing. Potential Target Markets Specifically, individuals interested in a very focused reading experience are one; the education market is another, she pointed out. If device manufacturers and educational and professional publishers are successful at getting that constituency, we think e-readers will be able to hold their own against media tablets, Kevorkian said noting, however, that while theres great potential, it has yet to be realized. A total of 7. 6 million media tablets, including the iPad, will ship worldwide in 2010, growing to 46. 7 million units in 2014, IDC has forecast. The e-reader category, on the other hand including both connected e-readers and USB-enabled ones will ship 6. million worldwide this year, the company predicted, increasing to just over 9 million in 2012 before declining to 7. 9 million in 2014, Kevorkian noted. NOOK for Android-based smartphones and device s. The new application offers those with devices using Android OS 1. 6 and higher the ability to shop Barnes Nobles expansive eBookstore of more than one million eBooks The new Android app is also the first eReader software to feature Barnes Nobles new NOOK-centric branding, leveraging the strength of the companys NOOK brand across its entire eReading offering. The new eReader software branding aligns with the companys current NOOK offering NOOK 3G and NOOK Wi-Fi eBook Readers, and the recently announced NOOKstudy online study platform and software solution for higher education. NOOK for Android will soon be followed by an updated NOOK for iPhone, NOOK for iPad, and others in the coming months, the company noted. Barnes Noble is diving deeper into the education market with an expected August release of NOOKstudy which will run on Macs and PCs and not require a NOOK or any other mobile device. NOOKstudy will act as a hub for eTextbook, class notes, syllabi, scanned handouts, and even non-educational eBooks. It will allow students to take notes as well as highlight passages in eTextbooks. Users will also be able to tag items for easy retrieval using common terms like: for the final exam. It will provide full searches of anything, in the eTextbooks or your notes, and link into Google or Dictionary. com to look up terms. Multiple eTextbooks can be opened at the same time, or two pages from ifferent sources can be simultaneously displayed. The program is currently being piloted at Penn State, University of Nevada, Queensborough Community College, and the Rochester Institute of Technology. Barnes Noble’s ability to market the Nook through its bricks-and-mortar stores, along with the comparative newness of the device, were keys to that competitive edge. Under the terms of the Best Buy agreement, the Nook’s e-reader software will come pre-loaded on a number of PCs and smartphones sold through the retailer. Both Barnes Noble and Amazon have focused on porting e-reader applications onto a number of devices, including ostensible rival iPad, in a bid to increase the potential audience for their proprietary e-books. Barnes Noble announced a software update for its Nook e-reader, including a Web browser and Android-based games, on April 23. Another feature, â€Å"Read In Store,† allows Nook users to browse the retailer’s e-books for free at any Barnes Noble bookstore, with the entirety of each book accessible for an hour. NOOK Wi-Fi eBook Reader marries innovative technology and sleek minimalist design with Wi-Fi connectivity. This latest addition to the NOOK family gives customers the opportunity to take advantage of the proliferation of both in-home and public Wi-Fi hotspots, where they can browse the Web and shop the Barnes Noble eBookstore of more than one million eBooks, periodicals and other digital content. With its latest software update for all NOOK devices (now available at www. nook. com/update), Barnes Noble is offering all NOOK customers complimentary access to ATTs entire nationwide Wi-Fi network, including Barnes Noble bookstores which have previously been available to NOOK customers. As part of the NOOK eBook Reader family, NOOK Wi-Fi features Barnes Noble’s breakthrough LendMe technology, enabling customers to share eBooks with friends for up to 14 days. NOOK Wi-Fi also offers the same great in-store features like Read In Store to browse complete eBooks in Barnes Noble stores at no cost, and More In Store, offering free, exclusive content and special promotions. http://floridaresearchgroup. wordpress. com/2010/02/16/demographics-of-kindle-a

Understanding English Pronunciation

Understanding English Pronunciation In order to improve your English pronunciation, it is important to understand a number of terms and concepts. This article introduces the most important components from smallest- a unit of sound- to largest- sentence level stress and intonation. A short explanation is given for each concept with links to more resources to improve, as well as teach, English pronunciation skills. Phoneme A phoneme is a unit of sound. Phonemes are expressed as phonetic symbols in the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). Some letters have one phoneme, others have two, such as the diphthong long a (eh - ee). Sometimes a phoneme may be a combination of two letters such as ch  in  church, or dge in judge.   Letter There are twenty-six letters in the English alphabet. Some letters are pronounced differently depending on which letters they are with. For example, c can be pronounced like a hard /k/ or as an /s/ in the verb cite. Letters are made up of consonants and vowels. Consonants can be voiced or voiceless depending on the sound (or phoneme). The difference between voiced and voiceless is explained below. Consonants Consonants are the sounds that interrupt vowel sounds. Consonants are combined with vowels to form a syllable. They include: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, z Consonants can be voiced or voiceless. Vowels Vowels are open sounds caused with the vibration of vocal sounds  but without obstruction. Consonants interrupt vowels to form syllables. They include: a, e, i, o, u and sometimes y NOTE:  y is a vowel when it sounds as /i/ such as in the word city. Y is a consonant when it sounds as /j/ such as in the word year.   All vowels are voiced as they are produced using the vocal chords. Voiced   A voiced consonant is a consonant that is produced with the help of the vocal chords. A good way to tell if a consonant is voiced is to touch your fingers to your throat. If the consonant is voiced, you will feel a vibration. b, d, g, j, l, m, n, r, v, w Voiceless A voiceless consonant is a consonant that is produced without the help of the vocal chords. Place your fingers on your throat when speaking a voiceless consonant and you will only feel a rush of air through your throat. c, f, h, k, q, s, t, x Minimal  Pairs Minimal  pairs are pairs of words that differ in only one sound. For example: ship and sheep differ in only in the vowel sound. Minimal pairs are used to practice slight differences in sound. Syllable A syllable is formed by a consonant sound combining with a vowel sound. Words can have one or more syllables. To test how many syllables a word has, put your hand under your chin and speak the word. Each time your jaw moves indicates another syllable. Syllable Stress Syllable stress refers to the syllable that receives the main stress in each word. Some two-syllable words are stressed on the first syllable: table, answer - other two syllable words are stressed on the second syllable: begin, return. There are a number of different word syllable stress patterns in English. Word Stress Word stress refers to which words are stressed in a sentence. Generally speaking, stress content words and glide over function words (explained below). Content Words Content words are words that convey meaning and include nouns, main verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and negatives. Content words are the focus of a sentence. Glide over function words to stress these content words to provide the rhythm of English. Function Words Function words are required for the grammar, but they provide little or no content. They include helping verbs, pronouns, prepositions, articles, etc.   Stress-Timed Language When speaking about English we say that the language is stress-timed. In other words, the rhythm of English is created by word stress, rather than syllable stress as in syllabic languages. Word Groups Word groups are groups of words that are commonly grouped together and before or after which we pause. Word groups are often indicated by commas such as in complex or compound sentences. Rising Intonation Rising intonation occurs when the voice goes up in pitch. For example, we use rising intonation at the end of yes/no questions. We also use rising intonation with lists, separating each item with a short rise in the voice, before a final, falling intonation for the last item in a list. For example in the sentence: I enjoy playing hockey, golf, tennis, and football.   Hockey, golf, and tennis would rise in intonation, while  football would fall.   Falling Intonation Falling intonation is used with information sentences and, in general, at the end of statements. Reductions Reductions refers to the common practice of combing a number of words into a short unit. This generally occurs with function words. A few common reduction examples are: gonna - going to and wanna - want to Contractions Contractions are used when shortening the helping verb. In this way, two words such as is not become one isnt with only one vowel.

Diasporas Readings Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Diasporas Readings - Essay Example Also, as stated in the website, the U.S. government has forecast a shortage of 20 million workers by 2026. The result of these is the increasing number of Asian immigrants, mostly Chinese and Indians, comprising the labor force. Within the last ten years, the Indian population in the U.S. doubled due to demand in labor together with the increase of Indians sponsoring their families. (US Immigration Facts, 2011). Two articles, Melwani (2006) and Kurien (2005) were taken into consideration about the socio-cultural adaptations of Indians in the United States Socio-cultural Assimilations In terms of psychographics (social and cultural aspect), Indians regard the family unit is considered to be more important than the individual, respect value and age, have diverse religious beliefs and are conscious of their food and beverage consumption (Chacko, 2009). Being in the Unites States, the immigrant Asian Indians have been, in one way or another, â€Å"Americanized†. Their names, food preferences, outfit and some beliefs changed as a way of adaptation and also for the mighty dollar (Melwani, 2006). The changes, adaptations while keeping their identity have become major issues for the Indians. Melwani (2006) gave different accounts about some Indians and their moral quandaries. Some of them have become chefs and restaurant owners facing the dilemma of preparing beef, which is very sacred to them, to satisfy the cravings of their Western consumers. Being vegetarians, they also try not to eat meat. Suvir Saran, a chef in New York City, stated that he never tasted what he was cooking and relied completely on his sense of touch and smell and sight and it was very tough for him. Some Indians also had no choice and tried to taste meat as part of their job which they now consider without moral tension. Other Indian businessmen also own hotels and liquor stores which serves alcoholic beverages. For them, things related to sex and sexual intercourse are considered taboo, b ut to those who live in America, conversations about these things are regarded as normal. There were some Indians who own shops selling sex videos, sex toys and strip shows. One of the most basic possessions of Indians also changes in America. As stated by Melwani (2006), in a lightning flash, the names of the Almighty, like Krishna, Mahesh, Vishnu and Shankar mutate into Chris, Mike, Vic and Sandy. Clothings and outfits also changed, the sari and bindi (symbol of a woman’s marital status) were now replaced with modern skirts and dresses. Indians in the corporate world now wear corporate dresses instead of saris and kaajals. According to Diditi Mitra of Brookdale Community College, as cited by Melwani (2006), the moral conundrums are negotiated not just by immigrants, but also by people in India. It is now all about negotiation. Situations were as follows: vegetarian families eat meat outside their homes; young men drink and smoke outside but not near their parents; and they eat with knife and fork with international clients but go back to eating with bare hands at home. Kurien in 2005 discussed an article about the identity struggles of second-generation Indian Americans. He cited Portes and Rumbaut (2001) stating that that the most successful strategy for such second-generation Indian Americans to follow is a process of â€Å"selective acculturation† whereby they incorporate themselves into mainstream society while retaining some of the parents’