B&N buys out Microsoft's Nook stake

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by rcentros

B&N didn't go into this half-heartedly, but after a couple years it looks like they basically turned tail and gave up and they've been coasting ever since.

Half-heartedly isn't the proper term.
They jumped in enthusiastically but they made several "me-too" decisions that came back to haunt them and one thoroughly misguided, over-aggressive move. Sometimes they acted as if they were in the hardware business, others as if they were in the content business, but never synch'ed the two.

Mostly, they didn't have a clear vision of what Nook was to be or how to make money in tech.

The antitrust lawsuit against MS was the clearest example: they adopted android without understanding it came with patent baggage and when that exploded, they acted as if they'd never heard of patent license negotiations.

In retrospect, Nook died on June 21, 2010. Everything since then has just been dominoes dropping...

[DBDigital]

A real shame. I have several Nook's and enjoy them all. The Nook Classic is still my first go to book reader. The nook tablets are also nice once I hacked them. But the Nook HD and HD+ really didn't need rooting after they added market. I don't like the new samsung in comparison is a big step backwards. Also when they brought out the new nook e-reader without a SD slot really told the tale. At least for me.

I had hoped they would turn this around. With regard to customer service, never had a problem other than they stopped supporting nook classic the day the nook simple touch came out. Although I think they really dropped it when nook color came out. There were only a couple of features that were lacking and we all asked for them (better ways to organize tittles and a couple of library updates) and they gave us games. Later on they did add shelves but it could have been more and they never did fix a few bugs we all talked about on the forums.

Support was fine other than them dropping that ball. I mean two years after you bring out a product you act like it never existed? Seems a little harsh.

Anyway I will be sorry to see them go. I always liked the Nook hardware and never had any problems with it. The original store design was great, then they borked it in a update and it has been a slow pain in the backside ever since. Ah well at least if I need to move I can as I have all of my ebooks backed up. Though I don't like the idea of converting them all lol.

[conan50]

I agree the nook hardware was good and priced competitively. But customer service compared to Amazon made B&N look sad. Also it seemed Amazon sometimes had better pricing and selection on ebooks. I remember right after I got a nook going into a B&N store and asking if there was any promotions etc., for the nook in the store and was told nothing but free wi-fi. That was such a missed opportunity, they could have driven traffic by offering in store discounts to nook owners and increased other sales besides. That was an area Amazon could not have competed with.
Years from now business classes will be using B&N as an example of what not to do. Maybe not too many years from now.

[FizzyWater]

Maybe if Sony had dropped out of the eBook business earlier, B&N might have had a better chance. But when B&N was strongest, I had my Sony and wasn't at all interested in what I considered a clunkier, uglier model from B&N.

[JSWolf]

B&N botched the nook big time. The lousy UI and the partitioned memory was the downfall. I have an STR and I don't use it because of the UI. The partition memory is just a nonsense. It makes the nook have the lowest amount of space of any current Reader for user installed eBooks. While most are 4GB, the nook is less then 1GB.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Half-heartedly isn't the proper term.
They jumped in enthusiastically but they made several "me-too" decisions that came back to haunt them and one thoroughly misguided, over-aggressive move. Sometimes they acted as if they were in the hardware business, others as if they were in the content business, but never synch'ed the two.

They never got their infrastructure fixed, but I don't think they died in 2010. I wasn't until 2011 that I even bought my first eReader, a Nook Simple Touch. And I don't think it was any one decision or day, I think it was just death by slow non-innovation. I still think the Nook Simple Touch was one of the best designed eReaders ever made. Barnes & Noble had something going there, for awhile. They just kind of dropped the ball. And people lost patience when advertised features -- like syncing between devices -- continued not to work.

As for Microsoft and the lawsuits, I think Microsoft was genuinely worried that B&N had something with their anti-trust allegations. I think that's why they invested into the Nook division.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by DBDigital

Anyway I will be sorry to see them go. I always liked the Nook hardware and never had any problems with it.

Same here. The B&N infrastructure on the other hand ...

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

B&N botched the nook big time. The lousy UI and the partitioned memory was the downfall.

I still think you're overly sensitive about the Nook's UI. I never had any trouble with it -- still don't.

[Rich_D]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I still think you're overly sensitive about the Nook's UI. I never had any trouble with it -- still don't.

Agreed. Also, since all of my books are on an SD card, the partitioned memory wasn't an issue for me either.

B&N really did blow it when they didn't utilize the in-store advantage that they had. The free wi-fi and in-store reading was nice but it could have been so much more.

[fbrII]

I have supported Nook hardware through the years and I have been happy with their products. The main reason for my support is I like to have coffee, maybe a pastry and I like to read, and when I can combine those three I am a happy man. Less than a mile from me is a B&N store, with a cafe and you can read with your Nook in the store for an hour free. Return the next day, open the book and it opens right where you left off. Its like having the worlds largest fiction library, down the block, with a cafe.

So, its been horrifying for me to watch the moves Nook has made over the years. It seems they never had a clue or concern for what their customers might want or be looking for. I get the impression that every decision comes down to what the publishers are looking for in a business partner without regard for what their customers are looking for. My guess is their business exits because it is proped up by their business partners wallets and they no longer, if they ever were in control of their own business practices/decisions.

Too bad, like many others I made my final purchase when they made downloading books more difficult. Now it seems it won't be long before I will have to find a new cafe and a new Android tablet.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by rcentros

They never got their infrastructure fixed, but I don't think they died in 2010.

"Don't get into a land war in asia, don't get into a price war with Amazon."

EReaders used to be sold with solid margins; selling them at near cost was Nook's idea.
Amazon had no problem going low because they had global reach and because they were getting into ads anyway. The only way Nook could make money was to sell a ton of STRs in the US and they didn't. That started the death spiral.

[fjtorres]

The Street thinks WalMart should buy Nook:
http://www.thestreet.mobi/story/1297...-division.html

I think that would be fun to watch in many, many ways.

[conan50]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

The Street thinks WalMart should buy Nook:
http://www.thestreet.mobi/story/1297...-division.html

I think that would be fun to watch in many, many ways.

I think that is the only thing that could save nook.
Walmart's digital movie streaming service Vudu is excellent, and they have managed to automatically send your Ultraviolet movie purchases to your Vudu account when you scan your receipt. Imagine if they did that for physical books, automatically sending a digital copy to your nook account. The idea being you gradually move toward digital purchases. Which is where things are headed anyway.
I bought my nook simple touch at Walmart years ago. They could save nook, but damage has been done to the brand that needs to be quickly reversed.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by conan50

I think that is the only thing that could save nook.
Walmart's digital movie streaming service Vudu is excellent, and they have managed to automatically send your Ultraviolet movie purchases to your Vudu account when you scan your receipt. Imagine if they did that for physical books, automatically sending a digital copy to your nook account. The idea being you gradually move toward digital purchases. Which is where things are headed anyway.
I bought my nook simple touch at Walmart years ago. They could save nook, but damage has been done to the brand that needs to be quickly reversed.

Mostly I just want to see the anything-but-amazon crowd face a market divided between Amazon and Wal-Mart. Apoplexies galore.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Mostly I just want to see the anything-but-amazon crowd face a market divided between Amazon and Wal-Mart. Apoplexies galore.