Nook Moves to Partnership Model

Barnes & Noble has announced that it is not going to continue to produce new Nook tablet devices. Instead, it is going to transition to what it is calling a “partnership model”. The announcement from Barnes & Noble did not say what company it will be partnering with.

I believe a lot of us saw something like this coming. Barnes & Noble has been doing sale after sale on the Nook for quite some time now. It knocked down the price and suggested that it would make a great Mother’s Day gift. It ran the same sale for Father’s Day. There were other sales as well.

Barnes & Noble is planning to “adjust” its strategy when it comes to the Nook. Previous to this announcement, Barnes & Noble was building the Nook in-house. Now, it wants to have a co-branded program where some other company will build the Nook.

Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch said:

Our aim is to sell tablets, but to do so without the up front risk.

Barnes & Noble believes its unsold inventory of Nooks was the biggest reason for its loss of about $155 million in the most recent fiscal year. The company is going to continue to make black and white eReader devices. It will sell the color-screen Nook HD and the Nook HD+ at a discount through the holiday season.