Nieman Foundation at Harvard
Peter Kafka notes that Barnes & Noble is stopping manufacturing of its Nook tablets, outsourcing that task to others and focusing on lower-end eInk e-readers. Nook sales are tanking (revenue down 34 percent from the year-ago quarter); it doesn’t look good for the Kindle competitor.
Say this for Barnes & Noble: Just a few years ago, no one thought the book seller had an business trying to produce its own e-reader. And then, for a brief period, they looked like they were going to prove the doubters wrong, and showed that an old-line retailer could compete with the world’s most sophisticated consumer electronics companies.
Nice run while it lasted.
