UPDATED: Amazon Mobile for iPhone
UPDATE: Chad here giving Amazon Mobile for iPhone a try!
I am very excited for Amazon’s new native app on the App Store [iTunes Link] for a couple of reasons. Mainly, I like to shop on Amazon, so this offers a convenient tool. Second, it is a really neat experimental feature called “Amazon Remembers”, more on this later…
The app gives you what you would expect in an iPhone app these days: a home screen, search, cart, remembers and more. Let’s discuss each of these briefly.
Home: This is your start page in the app. It displays items from your wish list and search
Search: You um, search for products here
Cart: View any items you have in your cart; items display from the web or the app
Remembers: This is really cool. Basically you take a photo of something you are looking for, and Amazon will find a match. Amazon has real people looking at this stuff, so it can take a day or two to get a result.
More: This is where everything else is placed. Wish lists, account information tracking packages, etc.
I am very impressed with the app. Amazon could have just made a native app that mimicked their web app, but instead they are trying new things (Amazon Remembers) and giving us access to useful tools (Tracking Packages). I have captured several photos, enjoy them below!
Amazon sent me an email telling me they found a matching product for the picture of the Sharpie marker that I took (see screen hot below). Very cool! I can then buy that item directly from the iPhone! Sweet!
Gallery and Rene’s original post after the break!
Sure, Android may have the Amazon MP3 store, but now the iPhone has everything else! Amazon Mobile for iPhone lets you shop quickly (1-Click) and securely (SSL). Will it be as good an experience as the WebApp optimized website version? We’ll see — we still prefer the Facebook WebApp to the native App, but Google’s latest native App is killer. So far, it offers all the usual Amazon goodness, plus a new feature called Amazon Remembers, which lets you snaps photos of things (they use a folding chair in the example) you like, which it then keeps in the App and sends to Amazon, and shows you alongside anything Amazon thinks is similar in their catalog. Seems to be US only at the moment (at least it’s not in the Canadian App store yet, anyone else get it internationally?), but if you grab it, please let me know how it works (and if it stimulates you to spend a little for the economy, ‘natch!)
(Thanks Miguel for the tip!)
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December 3rd, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Just checked here in the UK, and it doesn’t appear here, but then we only got the Amazon MP3 download store today!
December 3rd, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Beat me to it BudgieUK! Mind you, I tend to access Amazon via the Nectar website so I can collect reward points. Still, it would be handy for browsing. Guess we’re still stuck with the plain old iPhone-optimized site through Safari.
December 3rd, 2008 at 2:56 pm
do you really want to download this? better use m. amazon.com. conserve your storage….
December 3rd, 2008 at 4:34 pm
That explains why they rejected this app a while ago: http://emptyfactory.com/mazo
December 3rd, 2008 at 5:44 pm
I did a search on iPhone. One of the top items returned was the Kindle. Checked its description and the words “iPhone” don’t show up anywhere.
Think they are using the application to push their own or overstocked goods?
December 3rd, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Not available in the Australian iTunes store yet…
December 4th, 2008 at 3:05 am
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December 4th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Miguel is ***!!!!
December 4th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
How is the blackberry storm treating you?
December 4th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Did you forget how to spell MONICA ….
December 4th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
fortunately not available in germany, I would have already bought something for time killing just like in the app store
December 4th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Susan, i heard these two guys talking while on my break and heres what i heard from them: I have an ISTINCT that a THUNDER STORM will hit the apple corp office this coming 11/21 and I DARE ya its gonna happen. the other guy said may be coz from my XPERIA it always does. the other said i better IPHONE home to war them. thanks.
December 4th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Can I ask a real dumb question here?
How does security work here? While I understand the idea of SSL, how does it work between my iPhone and the cell tower? Is there some layer of security on the signals going back and forth here?
Like I said, dumb question, but I’ve always wondered about it…
December 11th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
There’s no need to wait for Amazon’s Mechanical Turks to respond to your searches. We have developed an iPhone app, Pricepad, that syncs your Shopping Wishlist, including photos, with the web. You can share your list with anyone directly from the phone by sending an email.
Pricepad is available for US, UK, Canada and can also lookup barcodes.
April 4th, 2009 at 2:45 am
Any update og the Amazon app going live in the UK? The “Amazon remember service” would be fantastic!