Back in?December 2010, I bought myself and a close friend a Christmas present: a Nook tablet?by Barnes and Noble. I must confess, one of my favorite pastimes is getting a cup of coffee and skimming through magazines at B&N. So I said to myself, “If it’s from B&N, it has to be good”. I couldn’t have been more wrong!
This was supposed to be the next big thing in device technology. But it’s turning into a big joke. During the 2012 holiday season,?the Nook?fell $316 million short of investor’s expectations. During the last quarter alone, sales declined nearly 27 percent. Keep in mind they just came out with two new brands and cut prices to older ones in the past year or so. They tried to kiss up to the college market by creating? Nook Media, kind of like I-Tunes U. Well, I-Tunes U just celebrated one billion downloads. I doubt Nook will be celebrating anything anytime soon.
So who and what?is to blame for this melee? It’s been argued Amazon Kindle and other devices were too much competition for them. I’m not exactly buying it. If so,?maybe it’s because Amazon knows how to do better business. Maybe it’s because of the cool apps?Kindle offer (I learned this when I wised up and bought a Kindle). Maybe because the customer service at Amazon Kindle is a lot better; don’t even get me started. You don’t have to take my word for it. Look at the stock market board. Amazon’s stock is at $266 a share.?Barnes and Noble, at $16.?Now don’t go rushing to buy?B&N stock. It might be 16 cents by this time tomorrow.
So what am I going to do with?my Nook tablet? It sure would hide that nasty stain on my wall.