First Came E-Books, Now Free Wi-Fi at Barnes & Noble

[bananas]

Source: NY Times

A week after announcing that it was starting its own electronic bookstore, Barnes & Noble, the world’s largest chain of bookstores, said it would be offering free Wi-Fi in all 777 of its stores throughout the United States.

Barnes & Noble said on Tuesday that it had signed a strategic agreement with AT&T to provide free Wi-Fi to all customers in its stores.

Steve Riggio, chief executive of Barnes & Noble, said the company promoted its stores as “community centers” with cafes, comfortable seating and on-site events like book signings.

<snip>

Mr. Riggio said the company hoped to expand its current e-book catalog of 700,000 titles — 500,000 of which are free public domain e-books from Google — over the coming months. He said that every in-copyright book that is available in digital form would be on sale at BN.com “over the next twelve, 18, 24 or 36 months.”

<snip>

Read more: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/first-came-e-books-now-free-wi-fi-at-barnes-noble/

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http://www.barnesandnoble.com

[Richardo]

1. As a former loyal employee and frequent satistied customer may I just say:

About freakin' time, Steve. :eyes: :party:

[alfredo]

4. Barnes and Noble has released an e-book reader for the

iPhone, iPod, and the Mac. Maybe there could be a tie in with the much rumored Apple branded touch screen tablet. Patents and contracts point to something interesting in the works. It could be a larger iPod Touch that will carry their gaming platform to a new level. Surf the web, buy and read B&N books, and play Cro-Mag Rally on your tablet.

http://www.macnn.com/articles/09/07/28/apple.tablet.in.september/

Not holding my breath.

[silverweb]

2. Wow!

That's very cool.

:applause:

[Blandocyte]

3. Awesome!

Good idea!

[imdjh]

5. I confess to being behind the curve, not on wi-fi but on businesses-slash-internet cafe thing

And I was shocked that Starbucks and some others did charge for wi-fi. My locally owned internet cafe does as well. I thought that was pretty fucked up, especially considering that I provide free wi-fi to anyone within a couple hundred feet of my house.

Then I met Panera. Not bad place to get a bite, I perceive that it's not as expensive as B and N, and it had free no-password internet.

[Startup]

6. Charging for Wi-fi when you sell refreshments seems like a

poor business decision.

[keroro gunsou]

7. the atlanta bread company

i worked for had free wifi... and free tech support: me.

[BadgerKid]

17. Ours blocks wifi during lunchtime.

The lunch crowd is pretty large.

[SoCalDem]

10. Our local bowling alley has free wifi.

Sometimes when I go there in the daytime to get some scoresheets or to babysit a make-up game, I see business people using their laptops & having a snack.

Free wifi, should be available to everyone:)

[SoCalDem]

11. you should password-protect your own wifi

:)

[imdjh]

15. Why?

I don't have file sharing on, and my computer (2009 Macbook) is password protected if idle for more than a couple of minutes.

Can someone do something to me through it?

[BadDonkey]

12. love Panera for in between biz appointments

They are all over my territory and they are just loud enough inside to make calls without disturbing anyone... Libraries, BN or Starbucks are great if you are not making calls. Also Panera, has free walk up refills on Coffee, which is nice.

[onehandle]

13. Starbucks has free access for all iPhone owners and 2 hours a day free for everyone else...

...as long as they have a registered Starbucks Card (free at counter).

I imagine that eventually Starbucks and others will make it free, period.

[ejbr]

14. I appreciate the free wi-fi at Panera,

but the system can be REALLLLLLLY slow sometimes because of all the traffic. Let's hope the B & N thing can handle the increased users!

[elleng]

8. Thinking of moving,

and learned there's no B&N in one of my destinations. Oh, well!

[bananas]

9. It's probably the start of a trend

soon Border's and other bookstores will have free wifi, too.

[Vidar]

16. Good for Barnes & Noble.

[blogslut]

18. Wise decision

In my tiny town, the local bookstore has free WiFi. Down the street, the local McDonald's is remodeling its location and will offer paid WiFi. I suppose there will be enough rubes willing to fork over the extra cash to surf the web at McBigs but I think charging extra for access is foolish corporate greed.

We've got some interesting alternatives to corporate entities in West Texas. There are virtually no 7-11's because a local chain (Toot n' Totem) bought out all the stores. The one Barnes & Noble barely survives because it has to compete with Hasting's, a chain that originated in Amarillo. The Starbucks are being assimilated by a chain named Roasters.

I would imagine that the McDonald's franchise in my town had no choice in the decision to sell WiFi access.

[BreweryYardRat]

19. Bugger. So much for my ever studying at a Barnes and Noble again.

ADD and wireless internet do not mix well.