Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew H.
They can't fire Amazon. Or Apple.
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Is it Amazon's fault they haven't built-up their app store?
Or that they keep introducing new readers in the spring and head into the primary selling season with "old" product?
Or that they keep trying to compete on price when they can't afford the losses?
Or that they routinely build more product than they can sell? (How long was the original Nook still for sale as "new"? Three years?)
Or, on the B&M front, that their long-term customers are upset at pbooks beingg de-emphasized at the storefronts? (If true, that. I see a lot of annecdotes but I'm not sure Shatzkin is right on that.)
It's a hard, competitive environment, yes; but a lot if not all of B&N's wounds are sell-inflicted, mistakes.
Instead of B&N and Nook firing on all cylinders and simply being outperformed, they are being beaten because they are underperforming their own potential. By their own admssion they are failing to meet expectations. Year after year. That argues that the problem is the expectations, not the product; the management, not the competition. They don't really understand the business they're in.