Barnes & Noble quickly followed the iPad with the release of its NookColor. It was immediately clear from their respective responses to the launch of the iPad that Amazon understood that the rules of the game had changed but Barnes & Noble did not. Apple has shown us again and again that it’s not just about the product but it is also about what you can do with it that consumers really value. From that moment on, if a device looked anything remotely like an iPad it would ultimately be compared to it. However, as soon as Apple launched the iPad in 2010 consumer expectations were forever altered. Barnes & Noble was successfully gaining market share against Amazon by focusing on these attributes. In this world, it was logical to compete on things like screen size, weight, and price. In late 2009, when Barnes & Noble first launched the Nook, consumers were looking at these devices squarely as e-readers. In hindsight, it’s easy to see why the Nook failed: Barnes & Noble was investing in single-function hardware in a multi-purpose software game. Despite this, sales of the Nook continued to struggle year after year with the retailer eventually announcing its plan to separate its failing Nook division in June 2014. In total, they have released nearly 10 different generations of the Nook and racked up numerous strong reviews from technology critics along the way. Since then, Barnes & Noble has invested heavily in the Nook, even securing a $300MM equity investment from Microsoft in 2012. ![]() Similarly, Barnes & Noble released its first e-reader, the Nook, in 2009, again just two short years after Amazon launched the Kindle. For instance, they launched their online bookstore in 1997, only two years after debuted, while the online book sales market was still small. ![]() While they were never a first mover, they did embrace the potential of digital much quicker than incumbents in other categories. Instead of ignoring this like many other companies did, Barnes & Noble met this challenge head on. ![]() At the turn of the century, Barnes & Noble found itself at the intersection of two industries primed for digital disruption: brick & mortar retail and books.
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