Barnes & Noble experience a decrease in sales figures for 2012 and the disappointing sale of their NOOK device brings down the sales figures even more.

Barnes & Noble sales figures of 2012 weren't too impressive and their NOOK sales figures this holiday season didn't help the cause.

According to a press release, the company earned a revenue of $1.2 billion in 2012 which is a 10.9% decrease from the revenue earned in 2011. The press release states "Retail sales of NOOK products fell short of the company's expectations, bookstore sales of core products exceeded the company's expectations, and therefore, the company continues to expect fiscal year 2013 Retail comparable bookstore sales to decline on a percentage basis in the low- to mid-single digits."

The weakness in the Nook business was specifically due to poor tablet sales, Barnes & Noble said, though the company didn't break out how many Nooks it sold or how much those sales declined. Digital content sales -- including books, movies and magazines -- increased 13.1% over the year.

"We entered the holiday with two great new products, NOOK HD and NOOK HD+, both  highly rated media tablets of phenomenal quality," said William Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble, Inc.  "NOOK device sales got off to a good start over the Black Friday period, but then fell short of expectations for the balance of holiday.   We are examining the root cause of the December shortfall in sales, and will adjust our strategies accordingly going forward."

Both the Nook HD's beefed-up hardware and marketing language were squarely aimed at chief tablet rivals Amazon and Apple.

"[The HD+ is] nearly half the cost of the leading large-format tablet, [and] both products deliver an amazing value for customers, with no annoying ads," Barnes & Noble's September press release crowed.