Have Nook Touch Sales Collapsed?

“Nook Touch” and variations of that term (“rooted Nook Touch,” etc) used to appear daily in the list of search terms that led people to this blog.

Over the course of the past two months, the frequency of that search term appearing in my WordPress Dashboard has collapsed.

I speculated on Twitter that I thought Nook Touch sales dried up, and now Barnes & Noble says they also did during the Christmas holiday season, forcing them to take back inventory from other sellers!

From their press release:

Device sales declined during the fourth quarter due to higher third-party channel partner returns, lower selling volume and lower average selling prices. In order to optimize the supply chain for new products, the company took back NOOK Simple Touch inventory following the previously announced holiday sales shortfall.

I’m not exactly sure what’s going on here.

Is this limited to Barnes & Noble or are all eInk devices facing sales declines due to the iPad and other tablets? Or are NookColor/Tablet sales cannibalizing Touch sales?

We might know more when the maker of the eInk screen announces its earnings in the future. If they report a continued decline in sales, that would confirm all eInk devices have hit a wall.

The sale of eInk devices is a minor part of the overall eBook category. eBook sales will continue to increase as people turn to reading apps on tablets and phones instead of buying dedicated eInk devices.

Maybe being able to turn a Nook Touch into a classic Macintosh will lead to a temporary sales spike. Although that’s something that can also be done with many Android tablets and phones too.

Additional:

B&N earnings: Nook Simple Touch drags revenues down, but digital content sales are up

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