Quote:
Originally Posted by chemgear
So is the Nook dying as well? (I have no experience with 'em):
http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/05/tech...nook/index.htm
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/01/.../?iid=HP_River
Barnes & Noble is now in full retreat. In announcing that it might unload its Nook e-reader business, the company is admitting that it can't finance the future of the book business while it's still lashed to the past of the book business.
Or, more precisely, it could finance the future of the book business if only investors would look the other way for a few years and let the company lose lots of money while it did so. But of course investors won't do that. Yesterday's announcement that it is exploring "strategic options" for the Nook business was meant to appease those investors. In the short term, at least, that isn't enough: B&N (BKS) shares were down about 20 percent in afternoon trading |
Selling off the Nook is a pretty bad shorterm decision for Barnes and Noble in my ignorant and un-informed opinion.. It could turn out like how Blockbuster decided to pass on being Netflix's partner years ago when Netflix was looking to break into the market...or when Nintendo spurned Sony and Sony decided to make the Playstation on their own. Ironically, Atari was also asked by Nintendo to be the company to release the NES stateside and they declined on that also.
I digress but I think that the digital platform could be a traditional bookseller's bridge to the future when all the other big footprint bookstores are going out of business one by one.
These American companies need to get some Japanese business philosophies going with their 50-100 year plans. Why else do you think Honda and Sony are doing crazy things like robotics and cybernetics research all the time? It doesn't do anything for their car or television sales.
But alas, investors want quarterly results and B&N execs look like an NHL GM making desperate trades instead of building for the future.