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Microsoft Invests $300 Million in Nook to Take on Amazon and Apple in E-Book Market

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Apr 12, 2001
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Microsoft and Barnes & Noble today announced the formation of a new Barnes & Noble subsidiary focused around the existing Nook digital e-reader and e-book business, as well as Barnes & Noble's college business. Microsoft will make a $300 million investment in the subsidiary, which is preliminarily being called Newco until an official name is chosen, and receive 17.6% ownership of the business.
One of the first benefits for customers will be a NOOK application for Windows 8, which will extend the reach of Barnes & Noble's digital bookstore by providing one of the world's largest digital catalogues of e-Books, magazines and newspapers to hundreds of millions of Windows customers in the U.S. and internationally.

The inclusion of Barnes & Noble's College business is an important component of Newco's strategic vision. Through the newly formed Newco, Barnes & Noble's industry leading NOOK Study software will provide students and educators the preeminent technology platform for the distribution and management of digital education materials in the market.
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As part of the deal, Microsoft and Barnes & Noble have also settled their patent dispute, which saw Microsoft suing for infringement by the Nook reader in a move Barnes & Noble had positioned as an attack on all Android-based systems. The new deal will see Barnes & Noble and Newco holding a royalty-bearing license on the Microsoft patents in question.

The Microsoft/Barnes & Noble venture seeks to increase competition in the e-book market, taking on both Amazon's dominant position and Apple's upstart status that has seen the iPad become a popular e-reading option for consumers but much lower adoption of iBookstore content. Barnes & Noble has had some success with Nook, but its momentum has slowed recently and recent antitrust suits against Apple and book publishers breaking down the new agency model for e-book distribution have raised concerns that the industry will quickly return to a near-monopoly for Amazon.

Article Link: Microsoft Invests $300 Million in Nook to Take on Amazon and Apple in E-Book Market
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/04/30/microsoft-invests-300-million-in-nook-to-take-on-amazon-and-apple-in-e-book-market/
Instead of innovating, just throw your money at somebody else's product. That's what Microsoft is good at.

Apple innovates, the others copy.
 
"let's use our money to buy into the market that apple is getting into instead of being innovative and building it from the ground up!". This is why I hate Microsoft. Lol
 
markyr17 said:
Instead of innovating, just throw your money at somebody else's product. That's what Microsoft is good at.

Apple innovates, the others copy.
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I would not exactly say Apple (or anyone really) has been "innovative" when it comes to eBooks.

Nor is simply creating a new store of their own "innovative".
 
I love how people still compare a tablet to an e-reader.

Misinformed journalism at its best.
 
Hope Apple is not as smug as many here are. Pride goeth before the fall as they say...

MS has $$$$ and can make some noise in this market if aligned with B&n. Good competition to keep Apple, Amazon and others on their toes.
 
The Nook isn't a great device, it's over priced, and the bookstore is under-welming. I guess it makes logical sense for MS to put their money there instead of, say, doing it right and build a decent product. Sometimes they amaze me on their moves. I had already thought the nook was dead; now I'm sure of it.

iPad or Kindle for book reading, those are the standards.
 
markyr17 said:
Instead of innovating, just throw your money at somebody else's product. That's what Microsoft is good at.

Apple innovates, the others copy.
Click to expand...

Microsoft are just conducting business. I wouldn't heavily criticise them either, as they did help out Apple with a substantial amount of $$$s back in the day.

Also, Apple probably innovates a lot less than you think. ;)
 
Increased competition is a good thing. A two horse race is good for nobody. (See: American Politics)

I think 3 roughly equal competitors is the best combination to increase competiton while still able to have the companies maximize profits. That's why I would like to see Windows Phone do well. I'm sick of the iOS vs Android and WP7 is actually a pretty good OS which ISN'T just a blatant rip off of iOS....
 
Between this and if the US Dept of Justice anticompetitive lawsuit wins I am going to feel bad for authors who write books.
While I am all for competition I just feel if these companies race to discount books to gain marketshare that the only people that will truly be hurt are the small authors as well as new and upcoming authors. They should be compensated for their work at a fair price not a price driven by these large companies to win marketshare.
 
chilly willy said:
Hope Apple is not as smug as many here are. Pride goeth before the fall as they say...

MS has $$$$ and can make some noise in this market if aligned with B&n. Good competition to keep Apple, Amazon and others on their toes.
Click to expand...

They made some noise with the Zune.

They made some noise with the Windows Slate.

And they're making some noise with a mobile OS consumers still don't care about after well over a year.

It takes a lot more than money.
 
Newco must be the most generic company name I've heard to date, haha.. feels like names used as examples/defaults on forms..

They can call it "Microsoft, Barnes, and Noble"; sounds like a reputable accounting agency or law firm :)
 
Nook -> Windows 8?

This is interesting. iPad has the largest share of the tablet market right now, followed by the Kindle (Amazon). Kindle and Nook are both Android-based devices. It doesn't make much sense for MS to invest in Android. However, it does make sense for them to invest in a partnership that will help expand Windows market share. I'm betting we'll see a Windows 8-based Nook in the near future.
 
SiriusExcelsior said:
Newco must be the most generic company name I've heard to date, haha.. feels like names used as examples/defaults on forms..

They can call it "Microsoft, Barnes, and Noble"; sounds like a reputable accounting agency or law firm :)
Click to expand...

You do realize its just a temporary name right?
 
CylonGlitch said:
The Nook isn't a great device, it's over priced, and the bookstore is under-welming. I guess it makes logical sense for MS to put their money there instead of, say, doing it right and build a decent product. Sometimes they amaze me on their moves. I had already thought the nook was dead; now I'm sure of it.

iPad or Kindle for book reading, those are the standards.
Click to expand...
In my opinion the Nook Touch is a much better device than the Kindle Touch and I love my Kindle and Amazon (have over 150 books purchased through Amazon). I recently purchased a Nook Touch with glowlight to completment my Kindle Touch and the Nook Touch easily bests it from a hardware perspective.

I think this is a good move by Microsoft because competition is a good thing. I jusst hope B&N and Amazon keep innovating with e-readers. I love these devices!
 
Micro$oft is desperate.



Joining with B&N itself is a good move to compete with the big players and stay relevant,
but the $300 million is the telling part.
 
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