Barnes & Noble
B&N turns to Google to save the Nook
May 3, 2013: 1:07 PM ETBarnes & Noble's tablet business is struggling mightily. So what's the book chain to do? Let Google in.
FORTUNE -- Ask Stephane Maes, Barnes and Noble VP of Product, why holiday sales of its Nook tablets were weaker than expected, and he'll tell you it wasn't due to lack of interest. When shoppers looked at the Nook HD, one of the first things they asked was whether apps bought for their Android phones would also work on the tablet. "When the answer was 'no,' we had people walk away," he tells Fortune.
Although Barnes & Noble (BKS) does not disclose how many Nook tablets and e-readers it has sold, the book chain has said sales have not met expectations. Overall revenues for the Nook segment during Barnes & Noble's most recent quarter were $316 million, a significant 26% plunge compared with the same period the year prior. Given the company's announcement last January that it would shutter roughly one-third of its retail stores, bringing the total number of locations to 500 or less, it's clear Barnes & Noble is still struggling to find its footing in its ongoing digital transition.
"The more consumption-based tablets like ourselves and Kindle had some challenges because of that," explains Maes. "People were looking for the more full, multipurpose tablet that had everything and has that ecosystem that's spread between phones and tablets."
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Which is why this week, Barnes and Noble is rolling out a major software update that signals a major shift in strategy. Now, Nook tablets will have access to Google's (GOOG) online store, Google Play, which includes 700,000 apps, as well as digital books, movies, music, and magazines. To be clear, this means Nook tablet owners will be able to buy and read e-books from Google Play just as easily as they can buy books from Barnes & Noble itself.
In essence, that makes the Nook a truly full-fledged Android tablet, but it also introduces a possible challenge for Barnes & Noble, which is seeing continued growth in digital content sales, an area that includes e-books. If Nook owners can just as easily buy e-books via Google Play now, won't that hurt Barnes & Noble's bottom line even further?
"Will we lose some content sales? Of course," Maes admits. "But we also believe we will also gain a lot of content sales at the same time because we are world-class merchandisers and curators of content. There were a lot of people who didn't want to enter our ecosystem before ... Now, all that has changed."
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The real reason behind the new Nook
If it wants to have any chance of succeeding, Barnes & Noble needs to build an ecosystem of services for its tablet — and quickly.
FORTUNE -- The idea of owning a thriving content ecosystem is nothing new where companies like Apple, Amazon and Google are concerned. But can a smaller company like Barnes and Noble (BKS) do the same?
Come late October, the bookseller will try when it starts shipping two MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer - Sep 26, 2012 6:51 AM ETPosted in: Barnes & Noble, Nook -
Barnes & Noble CEO: NFC coming to the Nook
William Lynch talks about the future of the Nook business -- including how the company's software could be used in Windows and the potential of NFC chips showing up soon.
FORTUNE -- The battle for e-book dollars became a lot more interesting earlier this week when Barnes & Noble (BKS) announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft (MSFT). Over the next five years, the Redmond, Washington-based software giant will invest at least $605 MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer - May 1, 2012 2:47 PM ET -
Shedding light on the new Nook
Barnes & Noble is adding a brilliant light to its e-reader. Does it work? And, is it enough to goose sales?
FORTUNE -- Although black-and-white e-readers are generally lighter, cheaper, and snappier than they used to be, they still don't excel in low light. That's an area where tablets and their brightly lit color screens have a clear advantage. With its new $139 Nook, arriving this week, Barnes and Noble (BKS) MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer - Apr 24, 2012 11:11 AM ET -
Who dropped the dime on the Apple e-book five?
Decoding the Department of Justice's antitrust whodunnit
FORTUNE -- At a hearing in a Manhattan federal court Wednesday, attorneys for Apple (AAPL) and two major book publishers said that rather than settling -- as three of their co-defendants had -- they wanted to go to trial to defend themselves against U.S. government charges that they had colluded illegally to raise e-book prices. (See The Apple e-book conspiracy: Three days in January.)
Which means MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Apr 19, 2012 3:16 PM ETPosted in: Amazon, Antitrust, Apple, Barnes & Noble, e-books, Eddy Cue, Hachette, Justice Department, Markus Dohle, Publishing, Random House, Steve Jobs -
Today in Tech: Why Facebook may make you lonely
Fortune's curated selection of tech stories from the last 24 hours. Sign up to get the round-up delivered to you each and every day.
* Apple (AAPL) has responded to the Department of Justice's antitrust charges of colluding with book publishers, claiming the accusations are not true. "The launch of the iBookstore in 2010 fostered innovation and competition, breaking Amazon's monopolistic grip on the publishing industry," the company said in a statement. "Since then customers MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer - Apr 13, 2012 11:34 AM ET -
Meet Barnes & Noble's new Nook
The latest version of the company's e-reader features some very bright features.
FORTUNE -- Ask a Nook or Kindle owner what they love about their readers, and they may rattle off several points: they're affordable, lightweight, and easy to read e-books indoors or outside. What Barnes & Noble believes users don't love is trying to read such devices in low light. In an era of such whiz-bang technology as touch screens and pervasive MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer - Apr 12, 2012 4:30 PM ET -
Today in Tech: Comcast unveils Netflix competitor
Fortune's curated selection of tech stories from the last 24 hours. Sign up to get the round-up delivered to you each and every day.
* The Verge gives at a long look at Research in Motion's rise and decline: how it was built and how former co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie lost their way. Also, the company's ailing BlackBerry PlayBook tablet received a software update that finally brought native apps to access email, calendar, MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer - Feb 22, 2012 3:30 AM ETPosted in: Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, BlackBerry Playbook, Comcast, Jim Balsillie, Mike Lazaridis, Netflix -
Today in Tech: A cheaper Nook Tablet coming this week?
Fortune's curated selection of tech stories from the long weekend. Sign up to get the round-up delivered to you each and every day.
* Apple (AAPL) granted ABC's Nightline unfettered access to a Foxconn factory. Here's a preview of what they found. (The full segment airs this evening at 11:35 PM EST and PST. (ABC News via Fortune)
* National Security Agency director Gen. Keith Alexander warned that the hacker group dubbed "Anonymous" could have MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer - Feb 21, 2012 3:30 AM ET -
Today in Tech: Can Barnes & Noble really tackle Amazon?
Fortune's curated selection of tech stories from the weekend. Sign up to get the round-up delivered to you each and every day.
* Once the "brutal capitalist" of booksellers, Barnes & Noble (BKS) now finds itself the David to Amazon's Goliath. Can CEO William Lynch navigate the company and its well-received Nook readers to long-term success? The New York Times takes a look and also reveals that a new Nook is likely coming this spring. (The New MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer - Jan 30, 2012 3:43 AM ET
