Hasta La Gadget!

Barnes & Noble has ceased development on its NOOK app for Windows 8 and Windows Phone, and will instead simply provide content for Microsoft’s own “consumer reader” platform, a regulatory … Continue reading

A report from Business Insider earlier today claimed that Barnes & Noble had eliminated its Nook hardware engineering staff in its entirety. Barnes & Noble has confirmed to TechCrunch that there were “job eliminations across the organization,” but stressed that they have not in fact eliminated their hardware division as first reported.

Nook spokesperson Mary Ellen Keating provided the following statement from the company to explain the current situation and recent organizational changes:

We’ve been very clear about our focus on rationalizing the NOOK business and positioning it for future success and value creation.  As we’ve aligned NOOK’s cost structure with business realities, staffing levels in certain areas of our organization have changed, leading to some job eliminations.  We’re not going to comment specifically on those eliminations.  We believe we have a strong management team in place at NOOK, having recruited significant new talent.  The new NOOK management team is focused on managing the business efficiently so that it becomes financially strong while at the same time aggressively moving to drive revenue growth.

The Nook business hasn’t been doing well for a long time, and the unit’s revenue dropped 32.3 percent year-over-year last fiscal quarter. There have been multiple rumors about B&N considering buyers for the Nook business, but so far, it seems to remain committed to the division despite its declining fortunes.

Sony seems to be intent on extricating itself from the e-book market, where few companies have seemed to be able to weaken the Amazon stranglehold. It recently announced it was shutting down its e-book market in the U.S. and Canada, and moving existing users to Kobo. Nook remains in the game for now, but players are dropping like flies, so who knows how much longer that will remain true.

Barnes & Noble has made further cuts to its NOOK engineering division, taking a scythe to the hardware team responsible for its ereader in the aftermath of slumping holiday sales. … Continue reading

Barnes & Noble today reported its holiday sales results from the nine-week period that ended on December 28th. While most major companies saw record breaking sales throughout the holiday season, B&N wasn’t able to replicate their success. In fact, its Nook business lost quite a bit of ground that it had gained around the same period in 2012. Total revenue from Nook, which includes accessories and devices sales as well as digital content, totalled just $125 million, slumping 65.5 percent as opposed to the same time in 2012.

Nook devices and accessories didn’t see much interest from consumers throughout the holiday season, sales fell 66.7 percent year-over-year. Barnes & Noble says that lower average selling prices and slow sales are to blame for the decline. It pulled in $36.5 million during the holiday season through digital content sales, registering a 27.3 percent year-over-year decline. Retail sales at its brick-and-mortar stores also registered a decline, albeit a small one, at 6.6 percent. B&N released these figures after announcing the immediate appointment of Michael Huseby as CEO yesterday. Huseby will be focusing on the Nook business and believes that the decline is largely due to the company’s decision not to release any new devices in 2013. On the other hand, its rival Amazon reported a record breaking holiday season, naming Kindle Fire tablets and e-readers as some of the most sold devices in the run up to Cyber Monday.

Barnes & Noble Sees Dismal Nook Sales During Holiday Season original content from Ubergizmo.

The new $119 Nook Simple Touch GlowLight keeps up with its contemporaries with an updated display. But it also goes one step further when it comes to refreshing pages and making the device easier to hold.