1234000000358_04042014_final

With regard to reading devices, evidence grew in 2012 thattablet computers had gained in popularity versus E Ink–based dedicated readers—to the advantage of Apple’siPad, which was reported to have been a favorite gift inyear-end holidays 2011 not just in the US and UK but alsoin many other markets (as an example, in France, see LivresHebdo, 6 February 2012). However, by late summer 2012,with the rollout of the next generation of low-cost ereadersas well as tablets, notably by Amazon, Barnes & Noble, andKobo, a fierce struggle for market share ensued.New reading devices will also deeply influence the developmentof digital publishing. One segment of publishingwhere this will be leveraged is certainly textbook publishing,a sector famously singled out by Apple’s founder SteveJobs as being “ripe for digital destruction.” The launch ofiBooks Author, together with the iBooks 2 format, which isdesigned to allow authors to publish stories and notablymore complex and multimedia content directly to theiBookstore - is a toolset that the Economist labeled a“breakthrough in transforming how textbooks are createdand distributed” (The Economist, 20 January 2012). Apple’sinitiative was not directed only at eventual authors - in anyfield requiring “media-enriched” publications—but alsoincluded from the beginning the adaptation of existingtextbooks from major educational publishers, notablyPearson, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and McGraw-Hill,making all these materials directly accessible and purchasablethrough the iBookstore.Barnes & NobleUpdate spring 2014Barnes & Noble had a rough winter season in several regards.A new CEO, Mike Huseby, has been appointed inJanuary 2014, and a significant number of its engineers forthe Nook division have been made redundand, while itslong time flagship store in lower Manhattan had to beclosed, which once had been branded as the world’s largestbookstore, with over 150,000 titles on stock.But the harshest news was made public with the releaseof the third-quarter results for fiscal year 2014 in February,with sales in the Nook division down a staggering 50.4%,and digital content sales - declared as the key to the division’sfuture - down 26.5%. As in the same time, the company’sbrick and mortar stores remained profitable, evenas sales declined by 6.3%, and profits at minus 7.5%, it became“clearer than ever that Barnes & Noble executives areoperating two companies with very different issues.” (PublishersWeekly, 28 February 2014).Overall investments in the Nook division had been cut by74% (Publishers Weekly, 7 March 2014), while Barnes &Noble said to not giving up on digital, but driving forwardits partnership with Microsoft, which has integrated aNook App in its Windows 8.1 operating system, makingNook content available in 32 countries. (B&N, Press release,9 December 2013).Also, Barnes & Noble launched its selfpublishing platformNook Press internationally, starting with the UK, France,germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium. (B&N,Press release, 18 March 2014).Barnes & Noble: Developments in 2013The announcement of senior leadership changes in earlyJuly 2013 highlighted the complex challenges that Barnes& Noble is currently confronting. The resignation of CEOWilliam Lynch, and Michael P. Huseby taking over as CEOof Nook Media and President of Barnes & Noble, Inc., occuredin the context of declining sales and profits at NookMedia.For the first quarter of fiscal 2014, Barnes & Noble reporteda decline in revenues of 8.5% , and a loss of $8.9 million(EBITDA), with the Nook division (which includes the devices,digital content and accessories), announcing $153million in sales for the fiscal 2014 first quarter, a decline of20.2% from the $192 million in revenue reported for thesame period in fiscal 2013. (B&N press release, 20 August2013).With the earnings report, B&N announced also to continuesupport and develop its own line of tablet devices (contraryto ealier announcements - see at CNet) and to roll outat least one new reading deveice for the 2013 holiday season.In spring 2013, has re-launched it selfpublishing platformPibIt under the new brand of Nook Press.Earlier developmentsBarnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) describes itself as “a Fortune500 company, is the world’s largest bookseller andthe nation’s highest-rated bookselling brand” (Statementon the company website www.barnesandnobleinc.com.The company’s businesses include the operation of approximately700 specialty retail stores and more than 600college bookstores in all 50 states in the US; online retailingthrough its flagship website BN.com; and a marketplaceThe Global eBook Report 98