Brilliant Move

The Boston Globe book blog, Off the Shelf, reports that Barnes & Nobles will begin to offer free wireless internet in conjunction with the launch of their new 700,000 title e-book store. 'As part of a larger push into the e-book world, Barnes & Noble says that it is offering complimentary WiFi at its nearly 780 stores across the nation. Formerly, BN customers were charged $3.95 for two hours of access to AT&T's in-store wireless Internet service, which has been available in stores since 2005. The book retailer said in a news release that customers in its stores now will be able to download and preview any of the more than 700,000 titles in its recently launched e-bookstore, along with the thousands of free, public-domain books available through Google. Earlier this month, the company released its free eBook reader application called eReader for the BlackBerry, iPhone, and iPod touch.' Brilliant move they should have done years ago, which goes right in hand with their other smart public relations policies.