Barnes & Noble announced on Thursday, January 3, that its holiday revenues of $1.2 billion were down 11% year over year and that its digital business revenue of $311 million decreased 12.6%. Since digital content sales increased 13% from a year ago it indicates that NOOK sales declined more than the 12.6%. The company said that “NOOK device sales got off to a good start over the Black Friday period, but then fell short of expectations for the balance of holiday. “
Barnes & Noble nook (ebook reader device) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I published a note the day before with information from eMarketer that ereader growth would slow substantially but not until 2013 as it was estimating that ereaders could still grow 44% in 2012. NOOK’s shortfall either means that Amazon’s Kindle is taking share or that consumers are opting for iPads, especially the iPad Mini.
Disclosure: My family and I own Apple shares
