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Microsoft May Acquire Nook Tablet Business From Barnes and Noble

Posted by timothy on from the another-way-to-make-money-from-android dept.

whoever57 writes "According to a report in Techcrunch, Microsoft is considering buying out the remaining shares in Nook Media. Microsoft already owns 17% of Nook Media. Documents reveal that Nook Media plans to discontinue selling tablets and transition to a model under which media is distributed through partners." (Also at SlashCloud.)

32 of 157 comments (clear)

  1. Next Up by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 2, Funny

    So, the Nook is history, and we will see a crippled Sidewalk or Ceiling Tile or Man Hole or whatever that Microsoft thing is? Oh yes... The Surface.

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    1. Re:Next Up by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 3, Funny

      Vocational collage

      collage?

      Yes. Simular to Basket Weaving 101.

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      If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    2. Re:Next Up by tripleevenfall · · Score: 3, Interesting

      We have two companies admitting failure here, B&N and MSFT.

      It's too bad about the Nook, they are nice devices. Nook should have won over Kindle, but B&N didnt have the foresight years ago to get into the everything business the way Amazon did, so they were always going to be muscled out of the market.

      Microsoft on the other hand will probably just try to make money off Nook's patent portfolio, given they have failed with their "Surface" (which, near as I can tell, is some kind of break-dancing tutor device.)

    3. Re:Next Up by hairyfeet · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I don't know why you got modded down since buying companies and tech and shitting all over them and making them worthless? Been their MO for several years now. Zune, Kin, Sidekick, killing the profitable playsforsure for the DOA Zune market, if its one thing MSFT is good at its taking a lesser player on the field and totally ruining it. I'm shocked that Amazon's stock didn't go up more at the announcement as nook has been the only competition they've had in eReaders and MSFT will kill them dead, most likely by getting rid of the cheap hardware and going "herps derp, they'll buy a $1000 MSFT Surface cuz of the Nook, we're special! herpa de derpa". because MSFT is gonna sell at Apple prices or die dammit!...of course it looks like the "or die dammit!" is what is gonna happen in reality.

      Poor MSFT shareholders, it must be frustrating as hell to watch the company be run off the rails by an incompetent CEO that has the biggest shareholder as his BFF so no matter how he shits on the company he can't be fired. I've seen many saying that "when things get bad enough Bill will come back!"...no he won't, Jobs had his massive ego tied into his company, Bill has cashed out enough stock he could live like a God if MSFT burned to the ground. More likely he'll quietly cash out and walk away,he doesn't care about his old company anymore, its nothing like Jobs and Apple.

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    4. Re:Next Up by PCM2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So Nook was a failure for B&N? Sure, maybe it's not giving Amazon as much of a run for its money as B&N hoped. But then again, just what does B&N think it's going to do if it gives up on Nook now? Sell magazines and coffee? Good luck on that >cough< Borders >cough<.

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    5. Re:Next Up by Darinbob · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Nook had a lot of advantages too. Epub format so you could get books from other vendors (not sure how hard that was) and back them up somewhere for safety, whereas kindle prefers a proprietary format. Nook had a lot of features before Kindle too, like pdf and book lending. Amazon has taken the step of recalling books with DRM, which I haven't heard about B&N doing yet.

      And face it, Amazon is a far bigger faceless entity than B&N. If you like real book stores then B&N wins.

    6. Re:Next Up by Cinder6 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I agree that it'll be a loss for consumers if the Nook disappears. However...

      I've owned (or currently own) three Kindles, one Nook (the glow light version), and the new Kobo that got slashvertised here a few weeks ago. As I've posted before, Amazon simply has the best platform of the three (I haven't tried others). It's ridiculously easy to sideload books wirelessly, without jailbreaking, to all of your Kindles at once. More importantly, Kindle will sync the location of sideloaded books. Third-party publishers, such as Baen, already offer MOBI files, so you don't even need to use Calibre.

      The only other eBook vendor I know of that syncs sideloaded stuff is Apple, and they don't have a dedicated eReader, and sideloading is a little bit trickier than the Kindle. I haven't checked out Google; how are they in this arena?

      I've also found Amazon to be the cheapest, at least for books I actually want to read. Two books on my shortlist, A Fire Upon the Deep and The Last Colony, are both $2 more on the Kobo store. A couple dollars here and there add up. (My solution right now is to buy on Amazon and convert it for the Kobo.)

      What makes it all so frustrating is that Amazon has the worst hardware of the three. It isn't that it's bad, it's that it's very utilitarian. The Nook has the best-feeling reader, while the Kobo has the best software (their text options are downright great), screen, and backlight.

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    7. Re:Next Up by emaname · · Score: 2

      ...given they have failed with their "Surface" (which, near as I can tell, is some kind of break-dancing tutor device.)

      Oh man, tripleevenfall, do I wish I had mod points for you. Clearly that's the impression from their goofy commercial. I just can't understand what the hipster is doing in there.

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    8. Re:Next Up by Penguinisto · · Score: 2

      I'm shocked that Amazon's stock didn't go up more at the announcement as nook has been the only competition they've had in eReaders [...]

      Well, except for that iPad thingy out there, which incidentally gets used as an e-Reader on occasion. May explain why Amazon didn't get much stockholder love. Mind you, when you also consider that Amazon itself has been recently positioning the Kindle brand against the iPad, I can see why no one is under the impression that Amazon/Kindle is the 'last man standing' in the market.

      Other than that bit? Hell yes I agree with your post otherwise.

      I always found it fascinating to see MSFT buy something, only to run it into the dirt, and you haven't even touched the enterprise space (...anyone else on /. know what DynamicsNAV used to be before MSFT bought it, fucked it all up, and then left it to rot?) If it weren't for the lingering inertia from the WinTel juggernaut, they'd have gone the way of Wang and DEC by now. OTOH, seeing my wife's reaction last night to Windows 8?** I'm kind of wondering why MSFT is even starting to screw up their cash cows now...

      Jobs had his massive ego tied into his company, Bill has cashed out enough stock he could live like a God if MSFT burned to the ground. More likely he'll quietly cash out and walk away,he doesn't care about his old company anymore, its nothing like Jobs and Apple.

      Jobs cared for two reasons: First, Apple was his baby (at least in his eyes). Second, he actually did have a good (initial) vision of making computers human-friendly, and knew how to make engineers (mostly) see things the same way.

      Bill? I think you're close, but for a different reason: For Bill, it was/is all about winning, reputation, and money. His passion (and likely ability) for coding and engineering died sometime back in the mid 1990's.

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      ** About that Win 8 thingy? The missus needed a new laptop, as the old one drowned in chocolate-flavored coffee. She tries Windows 8 at a Best Buy store, got frustrated, decided she hated it, wants Windows 7. The sales critters all said nobody sells Windows 7 boxen - I tried to correct the record, but I knew it was too late - she's now pissed. She says "let's go", as she walks briskly out of the store. Out of curiousity, I follow her to the Apple Store, and watched her buy a top-end iPad and a bluetooth keyboard for her (completely casual) online needs.

      She's still gushing about the thing, though TBH for her online/computer needs it fills the bill perfectly. BTW - yes, I tried to tell her about Newegg and suchlike having Win7 laptops... she wasn't having any of it. Anyrate, I usually use her as a means of gauging typical user/use-case scenarios, as she is decidedly non-geek, and she's not the first non-geek that I've seen (or have told me they did) do this.

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  2. The Age Old Story by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you can't grow a market, just buy one.

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    1. Re:The Age Old Story by symbolset · · Score: 4, Funny

      And then burn it to the ground.

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    2. Re:The Age Old Story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      But the fourth one stayed up! And that's what you're going to get, lad, the shittiest tablet in all of England.

    3. Re:The Age Old Story by OhSoLaMeow · · Score: 2

      But the fourth one stayed up! And that's what you're going to get, lad, the shittiest tablet in all of England.

      Where's my Mod Funny points when I need then?

      --
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    4. Re:The Age Old Story by hairyfeet · · Score: 4, Insightful

      God isn't that the truth and the royal bitch is the entire thing comes down to MSFT having no idea what their own strengths are so that aping Apple is hamstringing the entire company.

      Look at playsforsure, which to me is a perfect example of MSFT taking a growing market and burning it to the ground trying to be Apple, right before the Zune came out the playsforsure market was growing like mad, you could buy playsforsure devices at every price point, from the $20 gumstix MP3 players at the checkout counter to $300 PMPs, and because there was a rich ecosystem both on the hardware and the software side it was growing thanks to good old competition and with every sale MSFT was getting a cut....what happened? Most likely Ballmer or one of his PHBs said "Its not like Apple, they get a BIG cut and we only get a small one because we aren't in control, we need to fix this!" and promptly destroyed the whole fucking thing.

      This is gonna piss off the FOSS advocates when i point this out but what has always sold MSFT tech is how OPEN it was, how you quickly got competition and economies of scale so you have every price point and possible consumer covered. Anybody could write Windows software, any website could sell Windows software, you had all this competition which compared to the locked down centralized control of Apple was appealing, but now Ballmer is shitting all over that because HE wants to be Apple, HE wants a "Microsoft ecosystem" where he gets a 30% cut of everything, and its fucking slaughtering the company because its throwing out everything that MSFT was strong at, plenty of competition and open systems, and leaning on everything they sucked at, making "ecosystems" and tying everything together.

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    5. Re:The Age Old Story by hairyfeet · · Score: 2

      I think you missed the point which is that as a business strategy that can work IF you understand the market you are buying into, but with Zune, Sin, Sidekick, Zune market, and WinRT I don't think its a stretch to say MSFT doesn't have a damned clue about consumer media so they will just burn it like they burned so many others.

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    6. Re:The Age Old Story by PCM2 · · Score: 2

      That's right. That's business. Sometimes that's the best business decision.

      I think what the GP was implying is that Microsoft had no chance of growing a market in e-books, couldn't grow one if it tried, and that once it owns Nook it will still be completely incapable of growing the market it just bought -- in fact it will shrink. Sometimes the best business decision is to stay out of markets where your company has no competency.

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    7. Re: The Age Old Story by UnknowingFool · · Score: 2

      The main difference is that MS was chasing the wrong revenue stream. Apple sells music because it sells players. Apple doesn't really care that you are tied to their music store. MS pissed off many of their partners by making a player that only worked with their store. Years later the Zune sold some units but was it worth it to alienate all their partners.

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    8. Re:The Age Old Story by SEE · · Score: 2

      Oh, yeah.

      I mean, imagine if the Zune, instead of being an effort at an Apple-type ecosystem, had been an effort at a platform attack on Apple?

      Imagine a Zune that supported PlaysForSureâ"and every other format Microsoft could manage to add. Even open-source formats like Ogg Vorbis.

      That had a fully-documented, royalty-free accessories port, for both the hardware and software, and a sufficiently-documented sync protocol to allow third-party media players (even for *nix) to work with the device.

      That launched in a massive cross-promotion with Walmart, which at the time was running its own PlaysForSure market. Which involved Microsoft and Walmart handing the Beatles enough money to get them to release their music on Walmart's market, but not iTunes.

      That supported end-user replacement of old batteries, complete with such replacements being carried by (of course) Walmart.

      In short, a device not designed to mimic Apple, but to aim at every single weak spot the iPod had, in an effort to create a replacement ecosystem of music devices where Microsoft would collect small royalties on device firmware and PlaysForSure music sales.

      That could have actually worked.

      It would have screwed the rest of us, at least for a while, because with PlaysForSure live the record companies would have at least delayed cutting the deals that let Walmart and the like sell non-DRM MP3s. But Microsoft would have been in a much better position as a result.

  3. you're assuming... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    That the Nook had a market to burn. The hardware-for-price was a winner for the form factor but ultimately B&Ns walled garden app store proved once again that what people really want is selection.

    I own 3 nooks, but they're all running CM 10.1. Stock ROM is very limited.

  4. Re:WTF? by lister+king+of+smeg · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Microsoft bought Nook up when Barns & Noble stood up to them saying take it to court of bugger off. So rather then risk loosing in court and in turn having all of the android device manufacturers turning on them, they tried to save face and "partnered" with Barns and Noble, who being primarily book sellers not tech people weren't familiar with the Microsoft motto "embrace extend extinguish".

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  5. Video game consoles, for counterexample by tepples · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If "what people really want is selection", then why do people buy video game consoles instead of PCs? PCs have a far larger selection of video games and other applications than consoles due to the far lower overhead and the far less strict developer qualifications. Why would people want selection on a tablet but not on a TV?

    1. Re:Video game consoles, for counterexample by alexander_686 · · Score: 2

      Ease of use (I have never owned a console, but I know how to set the jumpers on my SoundBlaster to get sound.). It is the difference between a Swiss army knife and a screwdriver. One does everything, the other does 1 thing well.

      As for the Nook – why not an Amazon Kindle (arguably a better selection) or a full fledge table (better everything, but higher cost)? It just did not land in that sweet spot of cost / performance / selection / ease of use.

  6. Re:Anyone want to buy mine? by darkwing_bmf · · Score: 2

    I also like my simple touch. Unfortunately, I have a feeling Microsoft will nuke the ebooks I've bought through B&N just like they did to all the songs marked as "plays for sure".

  7. No more Barnes and Noble? by Animats · · Score: 2

    With no Nook, how will Barnes and Noble survive? They're the last major US bookstore chain, and they've already closed many of their stores.

  8. Re:WTF? by alexander_686 · · Score: 2

    That’s only half right - Barns and Noble has been having issues with year – thanks to Amazon. When the initial purchase was made I did not hear a peep about the lawsuit from anybody – It was B&N was getting out of clicks to focus on bricks.

  9. Re:Anyone want to buy mine? by D1G1T · · Score: 2

    These going away is a good reason to buy one now. The simple touch is great for rooting giving you a pretty good e-ink android tablet. I've been eyeing them on eBay for a couple weeks now. Time to pull the trigger I think.

  10. Re:Anyone want to buy mine? by butalearner · · Score: 2

    These going away is a good reason to buy one now. The simple touch is great for rooting giving you a pretty good e-ink android tablet. I've been eyeing them on eBay for a couple weeks now. Time to pull the trigger I think.

    You missed out. Yesterday the Simple Touch went on clearance at Radio Shack for $20, and the one with GlowLight was $30. The scum of the Earth, I mean, eBay resellers, will have cleaned them out by now, unless you get super lucky. I snagged the last regular Simple Touch at my local one for a grand total of $20.97 and I'm going to Nooter it this weekend..

  11. Re:WTF? by Perp+Atuitie · · Score: 2

    Yup. Same ol' sleazy "business model" they've used from the very beginning. And they say China has no tech imagination. Anyway, so long, Nook, it's been good to know you. Probly won't like you anymore once the price goes up 300 or 400 percent and you get an ugly new MS scare-mask face.

  12. Awesome guys.... by Motard · · Score: 2

    Lesser sites might offer conjectures about why MS might be interested in Nook - or, might not be. Perhaps the up and down sides of such a strategy. That would be interesting to read.

    But ragging on typo's is much more /.. Woot!

    1. Re:Awesome guys.... by hairyfeet · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Uhhh..that would be two sentences long friend. Why is MSFT interested? iTunes. What are the ups and downs? The ups are the existing customers and the down is they will all be gone in less than 2 years as MSFT hamfistedly tries to force them into a poorly made MSFT ecosystem that costs more than the more popular Apple and Google offerings.

      There ya go Motard, I have covered the entire thing in two sentences. Anybody who says anything other than "Don't buy until we see where they are going with this" can be argued to be a fanboy as the track record on MSFT and consumer products is beyond abysmal, Zune,Kin,Sidekick,Zune market, WinRT, winPhone 7, their track record is poorly thought out products that kill any fan base of the product they buy because they just don't know how to make a compelling product or service in the consumer space.

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    2. Re:Awesome guys.... by hairyfeet · · Score: 2

      They want something to pull users in, like how Apple has...drumroll...iTunes, but so far all their attempts at ANY real presence in media has been a giant FAIL, which again look at the products I listed.

      And "Motard" which if you aren't purposely being obtuse in the hopes of stirring shit I'm gonna have to think having "tard" in there is rather telling, one is not being "dismissive" if the ENTIRE HISTORY IS NOTHING BUT FAILURE in a particular market. they have been trying for 10 fucking years to get into mobile devices and its ALL been fails, not ONE hit, not one. And you say its "dismissive" to point out the entire fucking history of the company has been one hamfisted move after another to get into a market they obviously understand about like IBM understands hip hop?

      I'm sorry but you are being obtuse or leaning a little too close to the tard part of your UID, because pointing out a company that has had a laundry list of failures which just FYI left users time and time again with unsupported devices? that is reality. If you wanna wave the WinFlag fine, but don't try to sell us bullshit or pretend that MSFT has a fucking prayer in this arena because unless they fire 2/3rds of the company including the CEO? Not gonna happen. they don't understand the consumer market when it comes to mobile, they have no damned clue about how to even take a semi popular device in that arena and even keep it selling at the level it was when they bought it instead of just fucking cratering the the sales, like it or not motard MSFT has a history of NOTHING but failures in this market so pointing that out? Simply shows i have a functional brain and can remember history. WinCE, Zune,Sidekick, Kin, Zune Market, WinRT...are you REALLY gonna sit there and tell us you don't see a pattern here? Really?

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  13. So what's the link? by Duncan+J+Murray · · Score: 2

    I don't get the connection between this http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/11/15/171201/barnes-noble-names-microsofts-disputed-android-patents and what's happening now.

    In fact, because of B&Ns stand, I would have bought a nook here in the UK.

    D