Barnes & Noble Shutting Down Nook Division

Following a fourth quarter in which Barnes & Noble's retail stores made a respectable profit but its tablet business did not, the company announced in its fourth quarter earnings report today that it will close down its Nook division and focus on app-based solutions, allowing readers to continue buying ebooks that they can read on other manufacturers' tablets. Recently, the Nook rolled out a full Android market across its tablet devices, breaking down a barrier that Barnes & Noble had maintained in the hopes of making the devices more profitable by making it different from other Android tablets. Around that time, they upgraded the Nook app so that many of the features which had been blocked up to that point--including "Read to Me" children's books and graphic novels with ZoomView guidance, were now available to read through the Nook app on other devices. What this means for Barnes & Noble's fledgling video and music storefronts online is unclear. The bookseller had taken a comparatively long time to get into those markets, and when they finally did it was widely assumed that they were doing so in order to support the Nook. Microsoft, who own part of the Nook business, haven't yet responded. They may purchase the brand outright, which has been speculated for some time anyway, and continue to make devices. If so, expect Nook to get a Windows Tablet-style rebranding in the not-too-distant future. Barnes & Noble founder Leonard Ruggio recently expressed an interest in reacquiring the company, but at the time said that he was not interested in the Nook business. That was a sticking point with some investors, but it seems as though that's resolved itself now.