Microsoft and Barnes & Noble Partnering On E-Book Company
Microsoft is making a $300 million investment in a new Barnes & Noble subsidiary that spins off that bookseller’s digital content and college businesses. As yet unnamed, the
new company will be valued at $1.7 billion and is designed to “accelerate the transition to e-reading,” the companies said in a statement.
All of the components of the new subsidiary were not entirely clear in the statement, which emphasized the educational aspects of the company. Apparently, the new company will include the Nook tablet and e-reader aspects of the company. The two firms did announce that a Nook app for the upcoming Windows 8 operating system was forthcoming. The company also will distribute Nook Study software to the education market.
Microsoft and B&B had been involved in patent litigation over Nook products, but those suits have been settled. The new company will license the relevant patents to the Nook readers and tablets from Microsoft. There was also some indication in the announcement that the new subsidiary could be spun off entirely as a separate business.
The strategic partnership gives both Microsoft and B&N greater purchase in markets currently dominated by rivals Apple, Google and Amazon. Microsoft’s upcoming windows 8 operating system is designed to work across tablet and desktop platforms, but the company is up against the entrenched dominance of Apple’s iPad. Likewise, B&N’s Android-powered Nook Tablet seems to have been overshadowed by Amazon’s Kindle Fire.
Recent Mobile Marketing Daily Articles
-
B&N Nook: Let's Try That Again May 6, 8:17 a.m.
Barnes & Noble is trying to come at the tablet market yet again this week with ... -
Robert Scoble Doesn't Want To Take His Google Glass Device Off...Ever April 29, 9:05 a.m.
Longtime industry analyst Robert Scoble has been giving his readers some unique insight and perspective on ... -
Smartphone Shipments Pass The Halfway Milestone April 26, 9:20 a.m.
While smartphone shipments and ownership in the U.S. achieved a majority penetration a while ago, the ... -
Twitter Does Stand-Up In New Comedy Central Project April 24, 9:08 a.m.
Mel Brooks on Twitter? The fabled 2000-year-old man will in fact get his own handle and ... -
Summly Built Into Updated Yahoo App April 23, 12:50 p.m.
Yahoo made a splash last month when it acquired Summly, the startup launched by U.K.-based 17-year-old ... -
ACLU Joins The Fight Against Android Fragmentation? April 22, 9 a.m.
Developers frustrated by the fragmented Android hardware terrain got an unlikely ally last week in the ... -
LinkedIn Launches Major Mobile App Upgrade, Leads With Content April 18, 9 a.m.
While Facebook and Twitter have been following the majority of their users as they migrate to ... -
Google Adds Quick Links, Quick Views To Mobile Search Results April 17, 8:21 a.m.
In an effort to make mobile search results for users closer to the information they seek, ... -
Facebook Home Features Coming To iOS April 17, 8:21 a.m.
Facebook Home may not be coming to iOS, but some features of the software overlay for ... -
LinkedIn Buys Pulse For $90 Million April 12, 2:10 p.m.
LinkedIn on Thursday confirmed that it had acquired newsreader app Pulse as it seeks to offer more content ...
Be the first to comment on "Microsoft and Barnes & Noble Partnering On E-Book Company "
Leave a Comment