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Unnamed Source at Microsoft Denies Rumor about Nook Media Purchase

luv-1335785314[1]It looks like last week’s rumor about Microsoft buying Nook Media might not be as solid as we thought.

Insider Monkey is reporting that they have an unnamed source at Microsoft that denies the Techcrunch rumor. According to their source, that deal was never an option:

"I literally just walked out of the meeting today discussing all this Microsoft/NOOK hoopla going on," the source wrote to us late Friday.

"This deal was nothing more than a rumor. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) will not come out and deny or confirm for legal reasons, but the company has no intention of acquiring the NOOK unit. NOOK is closely integrated with Android (hence their recent Google Play feature) and there is no way it could be ported to Windows 8. This was simply something TechCrunch rushed to report with no fact-checking."

Damn. I did so want the rumor to be true; it would have guaranteed the survival of the Nook platform, albeit as a Windows RT based line of devices.

Of course, we don’t know that this rumor is real either, but the technical details give the source an authenticity that the Techcrunch rumors lacked. In fact, the original story at Techcrunch got a number of details wrong. For example, they mentioned a "college textbook division", when in fact that was probably a mention of the college bookstores operated by Nook Media (B&N College).

I will also note that I got an email reminder today from Nook Media. They still want Android developers to submit apps for premium promotion opportunities in the Nook App Store. That doesn’t exactly sound like it’s going away, does it?

Thanks, Tim!

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Comments


Alexander Inglis May 13, 2013 um 2:34 pm

Microsoft already has committed $300M to Nook Media as initial participation (and 17% share), followed by a further $60M per year for each of the following 5 years which are payments, essentially, against royalities made from Nook sales on Windows Nook stores across various platforms. Presumably Microsoft could break this second part of the deal if Nook Windows 8 sales seem to be hopeless down the road.


igorsk May 13, 2013 um 2:48 pm

Nook hardware may be Android, but NOOK Study is available only on Windows and OS X. There’s also Nook for PC and even NOOK for Windows 8 app. I call bullshit on that "reason".

Nate Hoffelder May 13, 2013 um 3:04 pm

Nook Study was the work of B&N College, and it has never been fully integrated into the Nook platform. And Nook for PC is frankly shit when compared to the mobile apps.

Also, I added a note to the end of the post. It offers support for the Insider Monkey claim.

fjtorres May 13, 2013 um 3:07 pm

Plus, Nook Hardware doesn’t appear to be long for this world, android or not.
Hardly an obstacle.
More, MS *has* denied rumors before and denying this would be simple; "We are happy with our current relationship with Nook Media and see no need to change it."

I’m not exactly a believer in the original rumor but the new denial is less credible than the original rumor.


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