Mobile Apps Happening But In a Rotary Dial Way

“We show the cover image, price and availability and basic product description,” said Miles Williams, the book chain’s director of online partnerships. But the service is limited to Blackberry users and doesn’t much exploration beyond the basics. The Web site and the stores are designed for browsing and finding what might be interesting, he said. The mobile experience is pretty much limited to customers “that know what they want.”

The initial version—created by a mobile commerce company called Digby—is much more pushing content out than in providing an interactive experience, either for the user or for the retailer’s IT staff. “Digby has zero integration with our stores at this point,” Williams said, adding that inventory lookups, more sophisticated loyalty data and geography awareness are on his future wishlists.

Read more at Storefront Backtalk (posted Nov 16, 2007) Mobile Apps Happening But In a Rotary Dial Way