In news shocking no one who’s been paying attention in the book industry, Barnes & Noble has finally announced that they are no longer in the tech game and trying to compete with Amazon and Google. Rather, they are making the decision to focus on their flagging physical stores rather than focusing on their flagging eReaders.
Barnes & Noble will not continue to design and produce their own eReaders, but will possibly partner with third party manufacturers, no doubt freeing up some resources and lighting up some overhead from those R&D costs.
This isn’t a surprise to those who have been keeping up with recent news from B&N; aside from all the rumors ownership may change soon, Barnes & Noble has quietly shut down the support forums for their Nook eReaders and they have also relegated the Nook section in bookstores from the front to the back, a clear sign that they were scaling down the Nook’s promotion.
This could be good news for the book retailer. Now that they have no expectation to keep up with Amazon on a technological standpoint, they can focus better on improving their sales overall. Given the recent news on how eBook sales have been down in 2017 so far, it makes sense for them to turn their full attention where it needs it the most.
Read more at the Good eReader about what moves Barnes & Noble might possibly make next.