Rumor: Nook to Exit Android Tablet Business in 2014?

[Ankh]

Wow. Microsoft Reader redux?

[frahse]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

The end of an era.

[JAcheson]

If this is accurate, and I have not seen confirmation yet, then B&N and the Nook are doomed.

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

[afv011]

Originally Posted by JAcheson

If this is accurate, and I have not seen confirmation yet, then B&N and the Nook are doomed.

I'm afraid so. There's a list of companies that got in bed with MSFT, and the end was not a pretty one.

[tubemonkey]

Guess who's standing in the wings?

Spoiler:

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Synamon

Nook's 2013 fiscal year end is April 2013, so charmain is correct that the end of the 2014 fiscal year is spring 2014.

How very odd. Every other company I'm familiar with names its fiscal years from the calendar year in which they start, not the year in which they end .

[gbm]

Originally Posted by Synamon

Nook's 2013 fiscal year end is April 2013, so charmain is correct that the end of the 2014 fiscal year is spring 2014.

Originally Posted by HarryT

How very odd. Every other company I'm familiar with names its fiscal years from the calendar year in which they start, not the year in which they end .

If you read the article B&N 2012 fiscal year ended on April 30, 2013.

total revenue of $1.215 billion for fiscal year 2012 (which for Barnes & Noble ended April 30th)

bernie

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by gbm

If you read the article B&N 2012 fiscal year ended on April 30, 2013.

Which is consistent with my assertion that their fiscal year 2014 will end in April 2015, is it not?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by gbm

If the 7 million active subscribers is accurate, the question is why would B&N sell Nook Media LLC.



bernie

You think so?
ebook user penetration in the US has been measured at around 25% of the population, in a country with ~320Million inhabitants that means something like 80 million ebook readers.

Those 7 million active users means B&N has less than 10% market share. Or about a third of what they've been bragging.

7 million active users would be fabulous for Sweden and good for Canada but it's on the low side for the US. Definitely not worth an extra $1B on top of the $300-pllus million MS has already sunk into Nook.

Edit: Kobo has 12million registered users.
http://business.financialpost.com/20..._lsa=2ed4-9181

That is globally and Kobo is small in the US but the context is clear; *if* those numbers are true, there is a lot less to Nook than B&N has been pretending.

[Synamon]

techcrunch has it wrong. From Barnes & Noble's 2012 Annual Report:

The selected consolidated financial data of Barnes & Noble, Inc. and its subsidiaries (collectively, the Company) set forth on the following pages should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes included elsewhere in this report. On September 29, 2009, the Board of Directors of Barnes & Noble, Inc. authorized a change in the Company’s fiscal year end from the Saturday closest to the last day of January to the Saturday closest to the last day of April. The change in fiscal year, which became effective on September 30, 2009 upon the closing of the acquisition of Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, Inc. (B&N College) by Barnes & Noble, Inc. (the Acquisition), gives the Company and B&N College the same fiscal year. The change was intended to better align the Company’s fiscal year with the business cycles of both Barnes & Noble, Inc. and B&N College. As a result of the change in the Company’s fiscal year end, the Company is providing financial data for the transition period and comparable prior period as defined below.
The Statement of Operations Data for the 52 weeks ended April 28, 2012 (fiscal 2012), 52 weeks ended April 30, 2011 (fiscal 2011), 52 weeks ended May 1, 2010 (fiscal 2010), and the Balance Sheet Data as of April 28, 2012 and April 30, 2011 are derived from, and are qualified by reference to, audited consolidated financial statements which are included elsewhere
in this report. The Statement of Operations Data for the 13 weeks ended May 2, 2009 (transition period), 52 weeks ended January 31, 2009 (fiscal 2008) and 52 weeks ended February 2, 2008 (fiscal 2007) and the Balance Sheet Data as of May 1, 2010, May 2, 2009, January 31, 2009 and February 2, 2008 are derived from audited consolidated financial statements not included in this report. The Statement of Operations Data for the 13 weeks ended May 3, 2008 are derived from unaudited consolidated financial statements not included elsewhere in this report.

They shifted their fiscal year end in 2009 and it corresponds with the calendar year at the end of the period.

[nesler]

Originally Posted by gbm

If the 7 million active subscribers is accurate, the question is why would B&N sell Nook Media LLC.

Because they're losing money on the Nook side of things, while they've been seeing expanding profits in their stores selling physical goods.

Their 2012 3Q report stated that they lost "$190 million versus $83 million the previous year (in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — EBIDTA)."

Source: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2013...third-quarter/

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

You think so?
ebook user penetration in the US has been measured at around 25% of the population, in a country with ~320Million inhabitants that means something like 80 million ebook readers.

Edit: Kobo has 12million registered users.
http://business.financialpost.com/20..._lsa=2ed4-9181

That is globally and Kobo is small in the US but the context is clear; *if* those numbers are true, there is a lot less to Nook than B&N has been pretending.

Depends on what they consider "active" and "registered."

I have a B&N account but never purchased anything. Is my account active?
A whole family can use the same B&N account. There is no device limit. Active account numbers doesn't give us ebook reader numbers.

Same goes for Kobo. Would they call my account active, registered or dormant? BTW, I have several (well, more than several ) accounts at Kobo. One for each country. Many accounts but no Kobo registered. I doubt Kobo sold 12 million devices.

[Jessica Lares]

I told you so, I told you so, I told you so.

Play Store was implemented simply because 1) they wanted to get rid of units quicker, 2) it would let them close services behind the scenes, 3) wouldn't leave the device dead once everything was pulled.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Fbone

I doubt Kobo sold 12 million devices.

I would doubt Amazon sold 12 million eink devices last year.
The money is in the apps, and future growth for the ecosystems will come from apps on multifunction devices, which is what raises flags that there might be less users than devices. The reasonable expectation would be for way more active accounts than devices; yes, some people own more than one device...but so many that it cancels out the app installed base?

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

I would doubt Amazon sold 12 million eink devices last year.
The money is in the apps, and future growth for the ecosystems will come from apps on multifunction devices, which is what raises flags that there might be less users than devices. The reasonable expectation would be for way more active accounts than devices; yes, some people own more than one device...but so many that it cancels out the app installed base?

Who knows? Without defining such terms it's almost a meaningless statistic.