"Entertainment Shopping" on your iPhone

Check out the SevenSnap app!

Demo video:

Geolocalized mobile shopping app drives sales to stores

NearbyNow, the website that helps you find the products you want to purchase that are available in stores nearest to your physical location, has released a white-label iPhone App Platform, enabling brands to offer a product availability/localization feature directly from your mobile phone.

How a NearbyNow-powered app works (excerpt from Seventeen magazine's "Fashion Finder" app description) :
- Browse the latest looks by style or item.
- Zoom in and out of the stuff you like, so you can see the details.
- Tap “Find It Near You” to find a store within 50 miles that carries the item.
- Confirm the item is available in your preferred size and color.
- Just enter your contact information and the Seventeen Fashion Finder personal shopper will call the store during normal business hours and put the item on hold. Within 10 minutes, you will receive an e-mail or text message with details on where to find the item in the store and whom to ask for. You’ll have 24 hours to come in and try it on.
- Tap “Find It Online” to get a list of online stores for items available on the Web.

Pretty neat service huh?

BUT... a human from NearbyNow actually has to call stores in your area to check availability of your item in your size... Not a very scalable model, don't you think?

Visual product search app maker SnapTell acquired by Amazon

SnapTell, maker of the iPhone and Android app of the same name, has been acquired by Amazon to become part of its A9 line-up.

The SnapTell app enables users to snap a picture of the cover of any DVD, CD, Book or Video game with their phone, and the app will return:
- info on the product from its huge product database,
- reviews, best prices from partner websites and retail stores,
- directions to the retail store you select,
- and the ability to purchase straight from the phone.

If you own an iPhone, you can try it for yourself HERE.

Pretty neat!

A little more user-friendly than the ShopSavvy app where you actually have to snap a picture of the barcode of the product to get info on it.

iPhone 3G is the largest consumer electronics launch in History …

Turns out the hyperbolic press release with which Apple announced the iPhone 3G’s first sales numbers today may have been more of an understatement than overstatement. Because iPhone 3G’s stunning opening weekend may go down in the books as the largest consumer electronics launch ever.

Read full story at AllThingsDigital.

michaelslevy.com now mobile too!

My blog is now available on your phone (there's a classic mobile phone version and a cooler iPhone version). It's here: http://m.michaelslevy.com, bookmark it!

Courtesy of Mofuse.

Here's a little preview:

Visual Mobile Search for Shopping!

Here's a demo video from Evolution Robotics' ViPR technology: snap a pic of any product off a store shelf with your mobile phone (ANY mobile phone), send it to the ViPR server via e-mail or through the ViPR app, and you get detailed info about the product including copy, specs, video from YouTube and even music from iTunes.

Think of it as mortar shopping meeting online shopbots, all on your mobile phone screen:
> For consumers: it's so much faster than typing on their (mobile) keyboard
> For ViPR: it's fully trackable (sent pictures logs) thus easily monetizeable (mobile user profiles colmplete with search history and product interests!)

Great Stuff!

Enjoy the demo:

iPhone showing great promise for mobile commerce...

Surveys by rating and review site Viewpoints.com found big differences in the way iPhone owners use their phones compared with other cell phone owners:

48% of iPhone users said they frequently look up information online, compared with 5% of users of other cell phones

Which means they might be more inclined to shop online using their iPhone?

More details on the survey here:
InternetRetailer.com - Daily News for Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Breaking: iPhone to launch in Europe in Autumn '07

Breaking: the Apple iPhone European launch was confirmed this morning.

Apple will enter only 3 test markets, again with an exclusive deal strategy:
- the UK: seems to be 0²
- Germany: to be announced
- France: Orange is confirmed

To say the least, this is terrible news for Vodafone, who hoped to get the exclusive distribution and service for Europe.

Mobile services companies in Europe are already bracing themselves to offer loads of apps and services as soon as the baby hits the market.

More to come later today...