Eric Kmiec

Spring Design: Here’s How Barnes & Noble Turned Our Reader Into the Nook

Peter Kafka in Media on November 3, 2009 at 3:00 pm PT

Puzzled by the weird story of the “Alex,” the would-be e-reader that looks something like the “Nook,” the e-reader Barnes & Noble introduced last month? Then this won’t clear anything up: Spring Design’s court case against the bookseller, which it says broke an “implicit promise” and stole its idea for a two-screen device.

Yet Another Kindle Competitor: Here’s “Alex,” Powered by Google’s Android

Peter Kafka in Media on October 19, 2009 at 7:00 am PT

It’s e-reader preview week, apparently. Last night, Plastic Logic formally named its would-be Kindle killer; tomorrow, Barnes & Noble is supposed to show off its own branded device. This morning’s entrant: Spring Design, which says it has produced a reader that boasts two screens and an operating system that runs on Google’s Android. What it doesn’t have: Big-pocketed partners to boast about.