Bookseller Barnes & Noble (B&N) is reported to have laid-off a number of hardware engineers from its Nook devices business, as it looks to “rationalise” the business.

The company had followed a similar path to Amazon, by extending its ebook line to include Android tablets and a supporting app catalogue.

But it has seen weakness in this unit. In a trading update covering the Christmas holiday sales period, B&N said that Nook devices and accessories sales of $88.7 million were down 66.7 per cent year-on-year, due to lower unit sales and selling prices.

For the December 2012 sales period, the company also introduced two new tablets, while none were brought to market in 2013. “Instead, we executed on our plan to sell through our existing high-quality devices”, it said.

It was reported last year that the Nook tablet line was set to disappear, with B&N instead focusing on the delivery of content to third-party devices including iOS and Android smartphones and tablets.

According to Business Insider, the retailer denied that it had removed its entire hardware team – which early reports had suggested – although it did not provide any details.