Kindle, Nook Looking Good

By Doug Olenick -- TWICE, 8/25/2010

New York - Amazon and Barnes & Noble each hyped the performance of their respective e-readers this week.

Amazon's latest Kindle

Amazon today reported that its latest Kindle will ship two day earlier than previously announced. In addition, during the last four weeks the new Kindle and Kindle 3Gs have been the best-selling item on Amazon.com and its U.K. equivalent. Amazon did not reveal any figures on how many were sold.

In its first-quarter earnings release, Barnes & Noble noted that one year after its introduction, Nook sales have helped the company achieve a greater market share in digital books than it has in physical books.

The bookseller stated its digital business is well ahead of plan, and it expects continued growth driven by continued Nook sales and by making the e-reader software available for other portable devices.

While Barnes & Noble also did not reveal unit sale numbers, it said sales of books to Nook owners who also belong to its membership program have increased their spending by 20 percent. The Nook has also helped expand the chain's customer base, it said, stating that 25 percent of all Nook customers are new to its online store at www.bn.com.

However, despite the bright news brought by the Nook, Barnes & Noble posted a net loss for its first quarter of $63 million on sales of $1.4 billion.

Online sales were up 42 percent to $145 million, while store sales dropped 2 percent to $1 billion. The company's college bookstore division generated the remainder of the quarter sales.

Barnes & Noble's board announced earlier this month that it is entertaining the idea of selling the company.