Rumor: Barnes & Noble to pull out of building Nook e-readers

Shawn Knight

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Staff member

Barnes & Noble is reportedly weighing its options with regards to their Nook e-book reader. A person familiar with the company’s strategy said executives have realized they must move away from building their own hardware and instead focus more on licensing content to other device makers, according to a new report from the New York Times.

The person said the company won’t completely get out of the hardware business but they are going to lean a lot more on the comprehensive digital catalog of content.

The unnamed source told the publication that Barnes & Noble will announce partnerships with companies like Microsoft and Samsung during their fiscal 2013 third quarter report. We are told that losses in the Nook Media division will be greater this year than they were last year and that revenue would fall below projections.

For what it’s worth, a Barnes & Noble spokesperson told Gizmodo they had no plans to discontinue the Nook line of products. Keep in mind of course that not discontinuing a product and cutting back on manufacturing are two different things.

The small brand looked solid heading into the 2012 holiday buying season after receiving a $600 million cash infusion from Microsoft and selling a five percent stake in the division to Pearson for $90 million. The company’s 7-inch and 9-inch Nook HD received favorable reviews with several publications praising the high quality display and value for the money.

We will keep a close eye on Thursday’s financial report to see if these rumors actually pan out.

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