Barnes and Noble posts $119 million loss in Q4 2013, will partner with third party on future Nook tablets

Barnes and Noble has not had an easy go of it. The brick and mortal stalwart has seen its revenues and profits steeply decline as we've entered the age of the ebook. In fact, profits haven't just shrunk, they've disappeared. During the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2013, the company suffered a net loss of $118.6 million, down significantly from the already poor showing it posted in 2012 when it lost $56.9 million in Q4. For the year that put Barnes and Noble's losses at $154.8 million -- more than double what it lost in 2012. Revenues have dropped both at retail outlets and its Nook digital business by $105 million and $56 million, respectively year-over-year. For its e-reader and ebook arm, that represents a 34 percent drop from Q4 2012. The bad news there is that device sales have declined dramatically and, while content sales were up for the year, in the fourth quarter they fell by 8.9 percent. Barnes and Noble attributes the year-over-year fall in sales to be attributed to the lack of blockbuster titles. In Q4 2012 revenues were boosted by juggernauts like Fifty Shades of Grey and The Hunger Games.

Going forward Barnes and Noble wants to significantly cut its losses on the struggling Nook business. To do that the company will be partnering with an as yet unnamed third party to manufacture and co-brand its tablet line. The Nook line of e-readers will continue to be designed and built in-house, but the retailer will be looking beyond its Manhattan office walls for help with the flailing Nook HD line. Existing products will be supported for the foreseeable future however, so don't go tossing your Robert Brunner-designed slate in the trash just yet. If you'd like more detail check out the PR after the break.

Filed under: Tablets

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iPad web browsing share hits 5-month high: a massive 82.4%

iPad web browsing share hits 5-month high: a massive 82.4%:

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

In spite of all the talk that Apple is ceding both tablet as well as smartphone market share to Google’s Android, iPad web browsing share just hit a five-month high.
iPad usage share increased to 82.4 percent, mobile advertising platform Chitika said today. That’s the highest since the very beginning of 2013, right after the Christmas shopping season, and a recovery from a slight dip in April.
I’m a little shocked, frankly, and I just have to say it: The chart comparing iPad to other tablets is just plain ridiculous.

Chitika

iPad vs everyone

Essentially, there’s iPad, and there’s iPad.
This is not a first and second and third scenario — this is a blowout where one product has just absolutely devastated the field. Amazon’s Kindle, which is sold just at or below cost as a digital-content Trojan horse for Amazon, has barely squeaked out 6.5 percent browsing share, and Samsung’s Galaxy tabs are even lower.
Everyone else, including Google’s Nexus tabs? Just over 6 lousy percent.
I follow Apple closely as VentureBeat’s Apple correspondent, and even though these numbers are pretty much in line with what I’ve seen previously, I was shocked by them today. The global blitzkreig of Android on phones and the massive number of Android retailers pushing tablets that analysts say will hit 60 percent market share this quarter are a drumbeat of Android boosterism that makes you think Google’s open-source mobile operating system is going to win everything.

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For more on learning where users — aka potential customers — are and are behaving on the mobile web, check out the “Digital lifestyle: Curating context in a connected world” track at VentureBeat’s MobileBeat conference, July 9-10.

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Not so, says Apple’s actual real-world performance.
“While there are a number of players in the tablet marketplace, Apple clearly dominates the market and managed to increase its usage share lead this past month,” Chitika said, speculating that increased sales of refurbished models in advance of expected new iPad versions created the growth.
Apple has actually grown iPhone market share in the U.S. as well, faster than Android.
Android tablet usage share is so low, Chitika had to break out a section of the graph to highlight individual manufacturers. Amazon and Samsung, of course, lead the charge, while Google’s Nexus units, the Nook, the Asus Transformer, Acer Iconia, and BlackBerry Playbook nose around on the floor for the crumbs of the tablet market.

Chitika

Android tablet market share

One caveat: This is U.S. and Canadian data only. Global share is likely different.
The North American numbers, however, might serve to Amazon pause. The massive e-commerce company is banking on the Kindle for media sales such as apps, books, movies, TV shows, and more. But while Apple is earning $20 billion a year off its digital media business, Amazon is far, far behind.
Image credits: Chitika

Filed under: Business, Gadgets, Media, Mobile

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