Barnes & Noble, Apple and Amazon are all competing in the tablet and ebook markets.
The joint venture between Microsoft and Barnes & Noble now has a name: Nook Media LLC.
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In late April, B&N announced its plans to spin off its digital (Nook) and college businesses as a new subsidiary with $300 million in backing from Microsoft. Microsoft was given a 17.6% equity stake at a valuation of $1.7 billion. B&N owns the remaining 82.4%. The two parties have not decided whether Nook Media LLC will remain a subsidiary of B&N, or be made into a standalone public company.
The first tangible outcome of the product will be a Nook app for Microsoft's forthcoming Windows 8 platform, set to go on sale Oct. 26.
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It's an interesting investment because Nook's future is still so uncertain, particularly as Amazon continues to dominate the market. Revenues for the Nook unit in the last fiscal quarter, which includes digital content and accessories as well as hardware, were flat, up a mere $1 million to $192 million compared to the same period last year.
The company acknowledged that it has been compelled to sell its e-reading and tablet devices at lower margins to compete with Amazon's offerings, which have historically been very similar to B&N's on the hardware front. For now, sales of digital content -- mainly e-books -- are making up for the loss of hardware income, up 46% last quarter from the quarter previous.
Barnes & Noble Nook HD+
With the Nook HD+, Barnes & Noble both takes on the iPad and gives the recently unveiled Kindle Fire HD tablets a serious competitor. The big-size Nook tablet is priced at $269 for the 16GB model and $299 for 32GB. It's also 2.8 ounces lighter than the Kindle Fire HD, but it doesn't have any cameras.
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This story originally published on Mashable here.
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