• Bloomberg/Harvard Business, Friday, October 23, 2009 10:43 AM

Barnes & Noble unveiled its Nook e-reader to much fanfare this week but Scott Anthony says it's too early to say that it's a "Kindle killer," as some overeager commentators have suggested. Maybe it is and maybe it isn't, he says, but let's not forget three things (and a few other possibilities).

The first is what should be a mantra chanted by all marketers upon waking in the morning: "No one knows what consumers will do until they actually do it." The second is the eminently sane observation that no one device is likely to "end" the e-reader battles -- as Apple's iPod did with MP3 players. And speaking of Cupertino, that brings us to the third point: What will Apple do? Nobody knows but history strongly implies that we should pay attention.

"Online chatter doesn't determine the outcome of competitive battles," Anthony concludes.

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