Chegg iPhone app lets students search and scan their way to textbook savings.

TNW Quick Hit

Chegg, the booming business centered on renting millions of textbooks to students, has released an iPhone app.

Love It: Able to comparison shop on the go using Chegg’s search capabilities which include the ability to search titles with a simple scan of a book’s barcode.

Hate It: Drawing a blank.

Overall: 5/5

The Details:

Chegg, a tremendous service for students which rents books for as little as a third of their retail price, has launched an iPhone app.  Their goals?  Saving students money, and extending the parabolic revenue growth  the company has experienced over the last couple of years, with revenues expected to top $100 million in 2010, up from about $10 million in 2008.

According to recent figures from Bloomberg.com, “Nationwide, full-time students spent an average of $667 on required course material in the past year.”  “Chegg says that students who rent all of their textbooks can save at least $500 a year. Since it started in 2007, Chegg says it has saved students a total of more than $150 million.”

With the Chegg iPhone app students can save on textbooks on the go through use of some very neat features:

• Easily search for textbooks by title, author or ISBN, or by simply scanning the barcode

• Instantly compare Chegg’s rental price to retail and in-store prices
• Rent books directly from your iPhone or iPod touch.
• Track the shipping status of all your books as they make their way to you or back to Chegg
• Avoid any late fees with friendly reminders from the Chegg team
• Find the nearest UPS location to make returning your rental quick and easy

Simply download the app, sign into your existing account, or create a new one, and you’re off!  With millions of textbooks to choose from, Chegg has a variety of shipping options, free returns and plants a tree when you rent!  What’s there not to like?