Barnes & Noble digital division plummeting due to poor Nook sales

By Mike Flacy January 9, 2014

Nook HD

Covered by the New York Times earlier today, Barnes & Noble announced a 60 percent drop in revenue year-over-year within the digital content division of the company. This section of the company includes all current Nook hardware as well as digital sales on the e-book market. In addition, executives within the company mentioned that Barnes & Noble’s portion of the e-book market has fallen to 20 percent. Barnes & Noble originally snagged 25 percent of the market when the first Nook e-reader was released during 2009, but that figure has continued to drop over the past few years due to competition from Amazon.

According to the press release, Barnes & Noble executives attribute the loss of digital sales to the lack of new hardware during 2013. Referencing the difference, CEO Michael P. Huseby said “Sales in the NOOK segment declined year-over-year largely because during the previous holiday season the company introduced two new tablet products, while no new tablets were introduced this year.” According to Huseby, the company is looking into new partnerships with device manufacturers that could lead to new developments in the Nook line of devices.

barnes & noble via stevenferrari.com

It’s likely that Barnes & Noble is having a difficult time competing with Amazon’s significantly discounted prices as well as programs like the Kindle Lending Library that allow Amazon Prime users to check out one book each month for free rather than paying for it. Interestingly, sales at brick-and-mortar stores only declined by approximately 6.6 percent year-over-year. In addition to hard cover and paperback books, this figure includes sales of games, toys, educational items and other popular gifts.

Book publishers are heavily dependent on Barnes & Noble to showcase new releases, specifically because the company is the largest remaining bookstore chain in the United States. The second largest brick-and-mortar bookstore chain, Borders, closed during 2011 due to lack of sales. Not surprisingly, Barnes & Noble acquired Borders’ trademarks and the old Borders site now redirects to BarnesandNoble.com.

Topics

Emerging Tech

Contributing Editor

By day, I'm the content and social media manager for High-Def Digest, Steve's Digicams and The CheckOut on Ben's Bargains…

Outdoors

The best portable power stations

EcoFlow DELTA 2 on table at campsite for quick charging.

Affordable and efficient portable power is a necessity these days, keeping our electronic devices operational while on the go. But there are literally dozens of options to choose from, making it abundantly difficult to decide which mobile charging solution is best for you. We've sorted through countless portable power options and came up with six of the best portable power stations to keep your smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other gadgets functioning while living off the grid.
The best overall: Jackery Explorer 1000

Jackery has been a mainstay in the portable power market for several years, and today, the company continues to set the standard. With three AC outlets, two USB-A, and two USB-C plugs, you'll have plenty of options for keeping your gadgets charged.

Emerging Tech

CES 2023: HD Hyundai’s Avikus is an A.I. for autonomous boat and marine navigation

Demonstration of NeuBoat level 2 autonomous navigation system at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show

This content was produced in partnership with HD Hyundai.
Autonomous vehicle navigation technology is certainly nothing new and has been in the works for the better part of a decade at this point. But one of the most common forms we see and hear about is the type used to control steering in road-based vehicles. That's not the only place where technology can make a huge difference. Autonomous driving systems can offer incredible benefits to boats and marine vehicles, too, which is precisely why HD Hyundai has unveiled its Avikus AI technology -- for marine and watercraft vehicles.

More recently, HD Hyundai participated in the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, to demo its NeuBoat level 2 autonomous navigation system for recreational boats. The name mashes together the words "neuron" and "boat" and is quite fitting since the Avikus' A.I. navigation tech is a core component of the solution, it will handle self-recognition, real-time decisions, and controls when on the water. Of course, there are a lot of things happening behind the scenes with HD Hyundai's autonomous navigation solution, which we'll dive into below -- HD Hyundai will also be introducing more about the tech at CES 2023.

Computing

This AI cloned my voice using just three minutes of audio

acapela group voice cloning ad

There's a scene in Mission Impossible 3 that you might recall. In it, our hero Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) tackles the movie's villain, holds him at gunpoint, and forces him to read a bizarre series of sentences aloud.

"The pleasure of Busby's company is what I most enjoy," he reluctantly reads. "He put a tack on Miss Yancy's chair, and she called him a horrible boy. At the end of the month, he was flinging two kittens across the width of the room ..."