Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8
Profitability by outsourcing and cost cutting rarely works long term. Eventually you run out of costs to cut. There isn't a whole lot of cash cow there to be milked.
|
Yeah, those are pretty much short term survival strategies. Clearly they don't want to cede the eBook market in the USA, at least, to Amazon. Getting out of the eBook business would do that, so they are trying to minimize the costs associated with their competition.
Maybe, they need to go "All in" and significantly reduce the number of "Brick and Mortar" stores (maybe become a tourist destination the way the Apple stores are, or B&H Camera is in NYC) and concentrate heavily on eBooks. Maybe even produce books in some sort of Mobi/Kindle friendly format. Do the reader devices REALLY matter all that much except as a way to generate book sales?
I know, I would love a mainstream alternative to Amazon to populate my Kindle with. And if I could buy books without DRM, I would love it even more.
Whatever B&N does, I think it needs to be bold, and be a "bet the farm" move. I don't see their current path as doing anything but delaying the inevitable Amazon win.