New iPhone App is Indie Bookseller Nightmare

By • Jan 30th, 2009 • Category: 26th Story, Technology

snaptell1Last night’s dinner with a group of indie booksellers in for the ABA’s Winter Institute meeting was a relatively upbeat event (yes, there is fine dining to be had in Salt Lake City–check out the Spanish anchovies at Martine) until Dave Weich from Powell’s pulled out his iPhone and showed his colleagues a new free app called SnapTell that had them all gulping their wine and gasping for air. The app allows iPhone users to simply point their phone at a book jacket (perhaps one they like the looks of on Powell’s store recommendations shelf) and the phone instantly provides a price comparison of everywhere that book is available online. (Waiter, another bottle of red to table 6, stat!)

–Bob

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  • http://www.williamaicher.com William Aicher

    I am pretty certain that people who are buying based solely on price are not going to Indie bookstores in the first place. They go their for many other reasons. If people want to get books cheap, they’re going to shop at Amazon or be a BN preferred member or shop at Costco, etc.

  • http://www.fourthstorymedia.com Ariel

    I’ve been using the Shop Savvy app on my Google phone to do this for a while now…scary, yes, but it just makes easier what I was already doing anyhow. I still buy more-expensive books in person though, pretty much for two reasons – 1) personalized perks (like a signed edition), and 2) guilt.

  • http://www.thebookdesignreview.com Joseph

    Holy Jeebus: not only does it work, but it also gave me a link to a Wikipedia article. Wow.

  • Pingback: New iPhone App is Indie Bookseller Nightmare | HarperStudio | :: superiphoneblog

  • http://na jc

    Yes, I’ve seen that app in action, and was not really impressed. It might be way ahead of its time. Until Ebooks catch on, and the traditional way of mulling through the local bookstore becomes bothersome, I don’t see it as a threat.

  • http://lynnrush.wordpress.com/ Lynn Rush

    OMG……I’ve not heard of this. Jeez.

  • http://eoinnoble.wordpress.com Eoin

    Consumers don’t want to buy a book in a bookshop only to find they could have saved 50% by buying online, they want price transparency. Indie booksellers specialise in the long tail, which gives them an advantage over Amazon. If a customer finds the book they want in your independent bookshop, sees it a couple of pounds cheaper on Amazon but it’ll take two weeks to arrive, chances are that consumer will buy there and then. There’s no way indies can beat Amazon at the bestsellers, but they can certainly compete in the long tail. It’s the big chain bookstores you should feel sorry for, this app is going to hurt them.

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