Even with Barnes & Noble iPhone App's Popularity, Brick and Mortar Is Here to Stay

I saw this and thought it was very interesting given the talk out there of the "demise" of brick and mortar book retailers especially as it related to both Barnes and Noble (BKS) and Borders (BGP).

From Media Bistro

After just one week in the Apple App Store, the brand-new Barnes & Noble iPhone app has grabbed the number one slot on the "Top Free Apps" list in App Store's "Books" category--unseating two Amazon digital reader applications from the top spots.

With the new Barnes & Noble app, readers can shop, read reviews, and explore web-only extras via smartphone. While these rankings are constantly shifting, the new app has overtaken both the Amazon Kindle (AMZN) for iPhone (AAPL) and Amazon-owned Stanza e-reader in popularity--perhaps a good omen for Barnes & Noble's future in the smartphone market.

Here's the most geeky and interesting feature on the bookselling app, from the release: "Barnes & Noble has partnered with LinkMe Mobile from Evryx Technologies, Inc. and Spotlight Mobile, Inc. so that users can simply snap a photo to search millions of products. Using the iPhone or iPod touch camera, just snap a photo of the front cover and within seconds get product details, editorial reviews, and customer ratings--even find and reserve a copy in the store closest to you."

To me this is a tell that there will always be something "tactile" as my friend @wood83 says, when it comes to both books and the sales process for them. The Barnes & Noble reader has the advantage of tying the online / store shopping experience together (shame on Borders for not having this done yet). Now this is not a negative for either Apple (AAPL) or Amazon (AMZN) but a huge plus for Barnes. Successfully tying in the web with the store at all levels gives them a unique model that is effectively unmatched.

We seem to be in a series of "death of" loops now. Everyday I turn on something electronic I am hearing about the "death of buy and hold", the "death of value investing", the "death of (place item here)". Ignore them all.

Is the book business changing, perhaps forever? Yup. Is the experience of going to a book store going away? No.

Disclosure: Long BGP

Comments

[Christos Ra...:]

Apple Is Bringing The World Stage At The Click Of A Button!

search.barnesandnoble....

Jul 08 07:07 AM

[4Foolz:]

Maybe not a true apples to apples compare, but Blockbuster also offers a unique web+physical-store product as compared to Netflix' web only, yet Neflix is eating their lunch as Amazon has B&N's.

Jul 08 09:56 AM

[Ted Hurlbut:]

To paraphrase, the death of retail has been grossly exagerated. There is an experiential, hands-on element to shopping that's simply not going anywhere, regardless of the catagory. Some things may become more the province of niche specialists, and much of the Long Tail will be handled online, but as long as their are innovative entrepreneurs there will be stores.

Jul 08 09:51 PM

[Bob 123456:]

Bookstores will surely be around for a while, but using Barnes & Noble's downloads first week downloads of their iPhone app as proof is misguided. You're comparing their first week, heavily promoted downloads against the same week's downloads of apps that have been in existence for some time. It's like saying the new Green Day album's sales this week prove they're bigger than the Beatles because the Beatles didn't even appear in the top 10.

All that said, there can be little question that the existing bookstore model will have to change for them to succeed. It's hard to believe there is room for three national booksellers in the marketplace today without some of the changing. Amazon is a juggernaut, so I would guess the Bs are going to have to modify their models to remain in existence.

Jul 09 08:09 AM