As Barnes & Noble Pulls Plug on eBooks, Others Thrive
This must be "circle your wagons" week in content-land: The Motley Fool reports that BN.com, online subsiduary of bookseller Barnes & Noble, has decided to call it quits with eBooks. No immediate reasons are given, but the Fools are speculating that perhaps the storefront-based side of the business was beginning to get nervous about how to manage profitability of store-based outlets when electronic items are taking off in sales. If so, it's a little bit like someone saying in days of yore that they should concentrate on paying off the mortgage on the blacksmith shop before opening a garage. It's clear that eBooks will not be just about low-margin sales; premium features and capabilities that will lock people in to content communities will provide much quicker and effective sales of content. Others with zero investment in storefronts such as Amazon are willing to take up the challenge, and some, like Lulu, are even willing to go electronic with high-quality books without established publishers. BN.com, we hardly knew ye...