Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble has launched a new ad campaign to promote the new Nook Simple Touch GlowLight, a feature that lets users read in the dark. We’ve embedded the TV commercial above for your viewing pleasure.

The “Read in Bed” campaign, created by ad agency Mullen, highlights focuses on how the new light lets readers read while their spouse is sleeping without having to turn on the lights. The TV commercial opens with a voice over asking the viewer, “Do you read in bed? Do you need a lamp to see? Don’t you wish there was light that would not keep them up all night?”

Here is more about the video from the release: “The spot, directed by Joaquin Baca-Asay from MJZ, is shot in a cinematic style showcasing the magic readers feel when they immerse themselves in a book at night and beautifully illustrates the benefit that GlowLight brings to people who love to read in bed.”

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The Nook app topped iBooks and Kindle in the Apple App Store this week, the free app rising as Barnes & Noble revealed a powerful new partnership.

AppNewser has a list of top eBook apps: “Nook is the bestselling free eBook app for the week, according to research from AppData. Barnes & Noble’s bookstore app includes books for purchase as well as free public domain eBooks.”

Barnes & Noble and Microsoft settled their patent litigation dispute earlier this week, partnering to build a new corner of Barnes & Noble’s business. Microsoft will invest $300 million into a new, unnamed subsidiary that will contain the bookseller’s digital and college businesses.

Stanley Koba from Howell High School in Farmingdale, New Jersey, has earned the title of “Teacher of the Year” from Barnes & Noble.

Koba, who was nominated by a student named Abigail Thompson, was chosen from more than 14,000 writing submissions to the “Barnes & Noble My Favorite Teacher Contest.” To participate in the contest, students had to write an essay, poem or thank you letter to a teacher who has had a positive influence on their life, and then turn it in at a Barnes & Noble store.

Aside from winning a flattering title, Koba also gets a $5,000 award and will be honored at an event at the Barnes & Noble in Farmingdale. Thompson’s winning essay will be published in a hardcover edition through Tikatok.com, and Koba will get five copies of the book, as well as a $250 gift card to the DIY children’s publishing site. In addition, Howell High will also get $5,000 in prize money.

Barnes & Noble and Microsoft settled their patent litigation dispute, partnering to build a new corner of Barnes & Noble’s business. Microsoft will invest $300 million into a new, unnamed subsidiary that will contain the bookseller’s digital and college businesses.

Microsoft will have an estimated 17.6 percent equity stake in the new company that will develop Barnes & Noble’s work on Nook eReaders and tablets. The new partnership will begin with a Nook application for Windows 8. The new subsidiary will also focus on ways that educational publishers can use Nook Study software to distribute digital materials.

Microsoft president Andy Lees had this statement: “The shift to digital is putting the world’s libraries and newsstands in the palm of every person’s hand, and is the beginning of a journey that will impact how people read, interact with, and enjoy new forms of content … Our complementary assets will accelerate e-reading innovation across a broad range of Windows devices, enabling people to not just read stories, but to be part of them. We’re on the cusp of a revolution in reading.”

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Barnes & Noble is making plans to release the Nook Tablet in Europe.

At an event this week called Mobile Monday London, Barnes & Noble gave a marketing presentation explaining that the tablet appeals to moms, who have been nicknamed “Julie.” 

Seeking Alpha has more:

Julie’ does not like to consume apps on phones because she is “a bit afraid of data consumption,” and because of that B&N has found a good way to market apps to her: by making them free when she is in the store to try them out. This, she calls, “approaching the device from a content perspective.”

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In a move to compete more directly with the Kindle Fire, Barnes & Noble has released the $199 8GB Nook Tablet, a 7-inch color screen eReader tablet. Like the Kindle Fire, the new 8GB Nook Tablet has half the storage of the $249 16 GB Nook Tablet.

The space should be plenty for reading eBooks and streaming movies on apps. The company has also dropped the price of the Nook Color to $169.

Barnes & Noble also released its earnings report today and revealed that the Nook business — which includes devices, digital content and accessories – increased 38% during Q4 2011 to $542 million from Q4 2010.

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Barnes & Noble has decided not to stock books published by Amazon in their physical stores, keeping the new publisher out of the country’s largest network of brick and mortar bookstores.

Bloomberg Businessweek senior reporter Brad Stone called it “a declaration of war,” breaking the news with a statement from B&N’s chief merchandising officer, Jaime Carey. The bookseller will offer Amazon titles in their online store. Last week, Amazon revealed that Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will distribute print books from Amazon Publishing.

Check it out: “Our decision is based on Amazon’s continued push for exclusivity with publishers, agents and the authors they represent. These exclusives have prohibited us from offering certain eBooks to our customers. Their actions have undermined the industry as a whole and have prevented millions of customers from having access to content. It’s clear to us that Amazon has proven they would not be a good publishing partner to Barnes & Noble as they continue to pull content off the market for their own self interest.” (Via Sarah Weinman)

In a long article about the future of Barnes & Noble, New York Times reporter Julie Bosman wrote a gloomy passage imagining a world without the chain bookstore.

Here’s an excerpt: “Certainly, there would be fewer places to sell books. Independents account for less than 10 percent of business, and Target, Walmart and the like carry far smaller selections than traditional bookstores. Without Barnes & Noble, the publishers’ marketing proposition crumbles. The idea that publishers can spot, mold and publicize new talent, then get someone to buy books at prices that actually makes economic sense, suddenly seems a reach. Marketing books via Twitter, and relying on reviews, advertising and perhaps an appearance on the Today show doesn’t sound like a winning plan.”

What do you think–could the publishing industry survive without Barnes & Noble? The article included a staggering comparison between the stock prices of the leading booksellers: Barnes & Noble was valued at $719 million and Amazon was valued at $88 billion.

Barnes & Noble is shifting its focus from device to content, according to Jim Hilt, vice president of e-books at Barnes & Noble who spoke at the Digital Book World conference today.

He said that 2011 was about the device and 2012 is about the content.

“The device is just an entry point at helping consumers do what they already do today, which is read great books and discover content,” he said. “Putting the browsing experience that you can get in a bookstore on a 7-inch display is the challenge of our industry right now.” Read more

In an comprehensive article about the future of Barnes & Noble at the Wall Street Journal, publishers estimated that the bookseller may hold up 27 percent of the eBook marketplace.

Here’s more from the article: “One publisher predicted Thursday that e-books could account for as much as 40% of total revenue by the end of the year. Although Barnes & Noble was late to the game, its devices have won critical praise, and publishers estimate today that it controls as much as 27% of the digital-books market.”

Yesterday Barnes & Noble announced that “the Company has decided to pursue strategic exploratory work to separate the NOOK business.” The news came after the company significantly raised its estimated losses for 2012 as it copes with the costs of maintaining the Nook business. The WSJ article speculated that Google and Microsoft could be potential buyers.