Advice for Barnes and Noble
April 10, 2013
Amid the barrage of challenges faced by today’s publishers, The Motley Fool asserts that “Barnes & Nobles Need to Quickly Change Course.” Writer Peter Pham points to Barnes & Noble’s disappointing quarterly results, revealed in January, which were pulled down in part by the Nook‘s lackluster performance. He then expresses surprise at the company’s recent announcement: They have made a series of licensing deals with some major studios, like Lionsgate, Disney, and HBO to name just a few, to supply content for the beleaguered tablet. Pham states:
“There is clearly a disconnect here. B&N is caught between being a traditional bookseller and a technology startup, and the transition is clearly not working as intended. The plan was to transition its retail customers towards Nook while posting organic growth as well, and neither of the two has happened. The company is now planning a major overhaul of Nook through a hardware redesign, trimming down expenditures and increasing e-book sales.”
If that is the wrong direction, what should the company be doing instead? Well, the article suggests, it would help if Microsoft would get around to completing their 7″-tablet-form-factor version of Windows 8. Beyond that, Barnes & Noble should work to get Bing Shopping integrated into the OS and make the Windows app store available. The key, though, may be to tap emerging markets with a focus on cloud-based education functionality. Interesting advice.
Cynthia Murrell, April 10, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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