' e-reader sales have dropped dramatically to 17.9m in 2012, and will reach only 16.1m in 2013,' says Hughes De La Vergne, who follows the sector for the research group Gartner. Global sales are plummetting in the face of competition from tablets, like the iPad, and smartphones. Now, he's gone.īut this business whodunnit has a twist: the question being asked now is whether the e-reader category, including the Kindle, introduced in November 2007, has a long-term future. In February 2010 he was made chief executive, bringing his e-commerce skills to bear in charge of a chain with 675 bookstores in 50 US states, and 686 college bookshops. Lynch, a former executive at smartphone company Palm, was hired from home shopping network HSN in February 2009 to head B&N's online business, where he expanded its digital offerings and oversaw the Nook's launch. Authoritative estimates for the UK market underline the Kindle's power, with Amazon believed to account for nine out of 10 ebook sales – an indication of the Kindle's penetration. The Kindle has swept all before it in the global e-reader market and Amazon has millions of stores right on peoples' desks, smartphones and tablets through its website and Kindle app. In all, it made an underlying $118m loss in the quarter – weighed down by a $177m loss in the Nook division, compared with a $77m loss a year earlier.

In the three months to 30 April it saw revenues at stores open for at least a year fall 8.8%, while total online and physical sales fell 10% as some stores closed. The business is already looking troubled.

Nook reader app on amazon