Barnes & Noble has inked a strategic agreement with AT&T  under which the wireless carrier will provide free in-store Wi-Fi access to customers visiting any of the book retailer's outlets nationwide.
Customers opting in to a new Barnes & Noble program will be able to receive discount coupons and personalized messages over Wi-Fi as they enter the retailer's stores, the company said. However, the primary goal behind the offering of free Wi-Fi is to encourage customers to download and preview any of the 700,000 e-book titles that Barnes & Noble began offering online last week.
"This is a natural progression of our digital strategy to provide customers with more choices in how, when and where they want to read," said Barnes & Noble CEO Steve Riggio.
Wi-Fi Good, But 3G Is Key
Customers visiting Barnes & Noble stores initially will be able to wirelessly access e-book content via free apps for the iPhone and other Wi-Fi-enabled devices such as smartphones, laptops and even the iPod touch. The book retailer's big move into the e-book space won't come until next year, when partner Plastic Logic releases a dedicated e-reader device.
Like Amazon's Kindle lineup, the Plastic Logic eReader will feature 3G wireless capabilities. Forrester Research Analyst Sarah Rotman Epps thinks that cellular connectivity -- not just Wi-Fi, which isn't available everywhere -- is a key element for Plastic Logic and Barnes & Noble to have any hope of competing with Amazon.
"Consumers value the seamless connectivity of the Kindle's Whispernet service , which lets them download a book in 60 seconds using Sprint's network ," Rotman Epps said. "Especially since Plastic Logic will be focused on newspapers -- USA Today and the Financial Times are also partners -- having the device be able to connect and refresh content anytime, anywhere, will be crucial for its success."
With Amazon's Kindle running on Sprint and Plastic Logic planning to run its device on AT&T's wireless network, Rotman Epps thinks that Verizon will "not stay on the e-reader sidelines for long." She predicts Verizon will partner with Sony and/or another e-book provider "before the end of the year."
Rotman Epps also notes that the number of public-domain publications which Sony now says it offers via Google has reached one million volumes. (continued...)
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