????美國連鎖書店巴諾（Barnes & Noble）近年來一直在勉力維持。不幸的是，它的Nook電子書和平板電腦沒能扭轉(zhuǎn)這個(gè)不利局面。巴諾公司本周公布，第四財(cái)季凈虧損高達(dá)1.186億美元，證實(shí)這家公司形勢(shì)已經(jīng)相當(dāng)嚴(yán)峻。

????巴諾負(fù)責(zé)產(chǎn)品的副總裁史蒂芬?梅斯今年5月曾向《財(cái)富》（Fortune）透露：“HD和HD+沒能達(dá)到我們的銷售預(yù)期，這點(diǎn)眾人皆知?！爆F(xiàn)實(shí)也的確如此，根據(jù)市場(chǎng)調(diào)研公司IDC的數(shù)據(jù)，巴諾平板電腦出貨量在第四財(cái)季僅為100萬部，比去年同期的140萬部大幅下滑。究其原因，很容易想到的一點(diǎn)就是巴諾未能實(shí)現(xiàn)差異化，將自身產(chǎn)品與Kindle等競(jìng)爭(zhēng)性產(chǎn)品區(qū)別開來，而亞馬遜（Amazon）則一直在自己的網(wǎng)站和廣告中大肆宣傳Kindle是優(yōu)質(zhì)產(chǎn)品。

????現(xiàn)在，巴諾突然來了個(gè)180度大轉(zhuǎn)彎，在發(fā)布財(cái)報(bào)的同時(shí)宣布將停止制造平板電腦，轉(zhuǎn)而讓有興趣的第三方廠商生產(chǎn)與Nook兼容的設(shè)備。（不過，巴諾目前將繼續(xù)銷售傳統(tǒng)的Nook電子書。）鑒于巴諾近來的失敗，以及Nook這一品牌是否將消失這個(gè)迫在眉睫的問題，我們很容易忽略了這樣一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單的事實(shí)，即就產(chǎn)品本身而言，Nook電子書和平板電腦仍稱得上是可圈可點(diǎn)，它們?yōu)殡娮訒袌?chǎng)引入了不少頗為重要的創(chuàng)新功能。下面是Nook的三大創(chuàng)新。

內(nèi)置背光

????去年第三季度Kindle Paperwhite推出后，許多用戶對(duì)它的內(nèi)置背光技術(shù)贊不絕口。成千上萬的電子書用戶可以和臺(tái)燈、照明保護(hù)套以及卡夾式閱讀燈說再見了。Paperwhite的背光也許做得非常出色，但它絕不是第一個(gè)吃螃蟹的人。發(fā)明家的稱號(hào)應(yīng)該授予2012年推出的Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight，雖然這個(gè)名字夠傻的。這款電子書使用了LED燈，還在屏幕上覆蓋了一層薄膜。LED燈點(diǎn)亮后，薄膜可以將燈光引導(dǎo)到整個(gè)屏幕上。這和Paperwhite的技術(shù)有點(diǎn)類似，但后者晚推出一年多。我們?cè)?jīng)的評(píng)測(cè)已經(jīng)證明，Nook的光照效果不如Paperwhite均勻平穩(wěn)，但也很不錯(cuò)。

（總體）優(yōu)秀的硬件設(shè)計(jì)

????巴諾之前從來沒有涉足過硬件設(shè)計(jì)，但它開發(fā)的Nook電子書堪稱工業(yè)設(shè)計(jì)的典范，令競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手相形見絀，甚至連Kindle也不例外。柔軟而有彈性的黑色波浪形后蓋，使Simple Touch即使在兩年后的今天看來仍然十分時(shí)尚，而且如果要評(píng)選最適合長時(shí)間端在手里閱讀的電子書，其它競(jìng)爭(zhēng)產(chǎn)品絕對(duì)望塵莫及。雖然最新推出的Nook平板HD和HD+相比之下乏善可陳，由科技界工業(yè)設(shè)計(jì)大牛伊夫?比哈爾操刀的Nook Color和Nook Tablet的確是當(dāng)時(shí)最好的“針對(duì)閱讀”的平板電腦，遠(yuǎn)勝第一代Kindle Fire。

絕佳的“三次點(diǎn)擊”軟件

????出色的硬件沒有好的軟件也是白搭。Nook電子書的軟件也毫不遜色。Simple Touch推出時(shí)搭載的界面十分簡(jiǎn)潔優(yōu)雅。巴諾高管曾放言，用戶無論想做什么操作，最多都只需點(diǎn)擊三次屏幕。確實(shí)，除非你是要搜索某本書籍，否則的確最多只需點(diǎn)擊三次。三年來，Nook平板的軟件系統(tǒng)變化很大，最初的系統(tǒng)十分強(qiáng)調(diào)前往書籍、應(yīng)用程序和音樂的許多（或許有些過多）的快捷圖標(biāo)，但今年早些時(shí)候的大改版清除了一些快捷圖標(biāo)，使得使用更便捷、界面更精致。而通過允許Nook電子書的用戶在谷歌（Google）的在線商店Google Play上完成購買，巴諾做了亞馬遜不大可能做的事，即開放自身生態(tài)系統(tǒng)。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：項(xiàng)航

????Unfortunately for Barnes & Noble, its Nook readers and tablets just haven't been the home run the struggling bookseller had hoped, a hard truth that became clear when the company reported a $118.6 million net loss for its fiscal fourth quarter this week.

????"It's no secret the HD and HD+ didn't quite meet our expectations in terms of sales," Stephane Maes, Barnes & Noble (BKS) VP of product, told Fortune this May. Indeed, the company's tablet shipments tumbled to 1 million in the fourth quarter, down from 1.4 million a year earlier, according to research firm IDC. Part of that has to do with the simple fact that Barnes & Noble didn't differentiate its product enough from competition like the Kindle, which Amazon (AMZN) has aggressively plugged as a superior product on its site and in ad campaigns.

????Now in an abrupt about-face, Barnes & Noble announced alongside earnings that it would stop manufacturing its own tablets and let interested third-party manufacturers potentially make their own Nook-compatible devices. (It will continue to sell its traditional Nook e-readers for the time being.) For all the grief Barnes & Noble has been getting of late, and the looming question of whether the Nook now is a dying brand, it's easy to overlook the simple truth that the Nook reader and tablets remain quality products that have pioneered some important needle-moving features in the e-reading market. Here are just three:

Built-in illumination

????When the Kindle Paperwhite launched last fall, it got positive reviews for its built-in illumination technology. No longer would millions of e-bookworms have to turn on a nearby lamp, use a special case, or attach an awkward portable light to read in the dark. But while the Paperwhite may do it best, it wasn't the first such mainstream e-reader to the market. That honor goes to the somewhat awkwardly-named Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight, introduced in 2012. Using a combination of LED lights and a thin film that sits atop the entire screen, the LEDs pipe out light, and the film acts as a conduit, distributing that light across the screen. It's a technology somewhat similar to one used by the Paperwhite, which arrived more than a year later. The Nook's lighting isn't quite as smooth and uniform as the Paperwhite's -- something borne out in our review back then -- but it more than gets the job done.

Superior hardware design (mostly)

????For a company that had never designed hardware before, the Nook e-readers are excellent examples of industrial design that outshine many competitors, even their Kindle counterparts. With its contoured soft, black rubbery back, the Simple Touch still looks slick two years later and remains hands-down the most comfortable e-reader to hold for long bouts of time. And while the latest Nook tablets, the HD and HD+, are far less impressive, the Nook Color and Tablet, designed by go-to tech industrial designer Yves Behar, were the best reading-focused tablets for their time, trouncing the first-generation Kindle Fire.

Excellent "three-tap" software

????Great hardware would be nothing without equally good software to back it up, and the Nook readers had this, too. The Simple Touch launched with an interface so simple and elegant that executives promised users should only have to tap up to three times to get anywhere they wanted to go. And unless you're banging out the name of a title in a book search, that's pretty much held true. The Nook tablet software has changed a lot in three years, first from an experience that emphasized a lot -- perhaps too many -- shortcuts to items like books, apps, and music, but a major overhaul earlier this year cleaned things up and made it easier to use and sophisticated. And by letting Nook owners readers also buy from Google's (GOOG) online store, Google Play, it did something Amazon likely wouldn't do and opened up its ecosystem.