Google is launching its popular shopping app, Google Shopper, for iPhone, complete with voice, image and local search.
Originally released for Android last year, Google Shopper can find products based on text, voice or barcode recognition to get the price comparison of a specific product online. If you do a search for “HP printer,” you’ll be shown a list of different printer types, as well as a list of nearby locations where you can purchase the item. Google also displays a rating for the item, based on user reviews.
When you select a specific item, Google gives you more details about the product. You can then choose to either check for the item on a variety of online retailers, or you can look up a list of local retailers that carry the product. If you choose local search, Google will display whether the item is available in each store. You can also “star” a specific item to save for later or you can share it with your friends via Facebook, Twitter or Google Reader.
Just like its Android counterpart, Shopper for iPhone is fast, simple and effective. For someone who wants to just get the price comparison, no matter where they are, the app will prove to be a reliable companion. That can’t be good for the likes of ShopSavvy and other shopping and barcode-reading applications.
The app is available in the app store now for iPhones running iOS 4.0 and higher.
The day when near field communication (NFC) will help replace plastic credit cards, coupons and loyalty program cards with a wave of a phone at a payment terminal has been long anticipated.
Wireless NFC technology enables devices, including mobile phones and payment terminals, to communicate with one another or read special tags. Its short-range signal, convenience and built-in security make NFC an apt choice for mobile payments. Its efficacy persuaded companies like MasterCard, American Express, and Visa to join the NFC Forum in 2004 shortly after it was founded to advance the use of the technology. Today, the possibility that this technology could replace a wallet full of plastic seems not only likely, but imminent.
Samsung’s Nexus S, the first NFC-enabled Android phone, will be on sale at Best Buy starting December 16; Nokia has announced that all of its Smartphones starting in 2011 will support NFC; and Apple recently hired an NFC expert. Jeff Miles, the director of mobile transactions worldwide at NXP Semiconductors, which co-invented NFC with Sony in 2002, says he expects more than 70 million NFC-capable handsets to be manufactured in 2011.
“As far as what will happen with it, who owns the keys and all of that, none of that has really been determined,” Miles says. PayPal and Bling nation
While mobile phone networks and credit card companies are trying to turn your cell phone into a type of credit card, PayPal is trying to use NFC to make its online-only system viable in the physical world.
The company has partnered with Bling Nation, a Palo Alto startup that has been installing contactless payment terminals at local merchants since 2008. When users attached an NFC-enabled sticker to their phone, they could swipe to make payments and receive rewards. Previously, Bling Nation users were paying from accounts at partner banks. Since this summer, they’ve also had the option to pay using their PayPal accounts.
Boku, a company that makes online purchases easier by allowing customers to use their mobile phone numbers at checkout, has also expressed interest in entering the physical world as a payment option. In Boku’s case, online purchases are currently charged to the customer’s phone bill. How exactly the addition of physical payments would take place remains unannounced.
Other companies are focusing not only on payment, but on replacing the loyalty program cards, coupons and other cards most people carry in their wallets. Earlier this week, it was revealed that Google purchased Zetawire, a startup that held a patent application for “mobile banking, advertising, identity management, credit card and mobile coupon transaction processing,” and little else.
Startups like Placepop, AisleBuyer and Coupious have taken less comprehensive approaches to trying to replace your wallet.
Still, companies like Boku increasingly see your wallet as unnecessary. As Boku’s co-founder Ron Hirson says: “I think us carrying around a wallet full of plastic will absolutely go away, and I think that billing methods will live inside the phone.”
For full story visit http://mashable.com/2010/12/15/smartphone-wallet/ Image courtesy of iStockphoto, photo_smart
With over 16 years of advertising experience in both the UK and Australia, Helen has worked across a multitude of accounts including Disney, Virgin, Hyundai, Optus and Ikea.
Having developed a passion for retail (not just Jimmy Choos) Helen chose to specialise in this field and in 2001 joined BMF advertising. She subsequently built up a retail department strengthening the offer of brands such as ALDI, P&O, Ella Baché, Budget Eyewear, MLA and OPSM. Her work has been recognised through a number of Australian Awards including ADMA and the Australian Catalogue Awards.
In early 2011, Helen became a founder of Rhubarb&Custard, a specialist retail and digital advertising agency focused on future-proofing retail brands. Their clients include Rebel Sport, Amart All Sports, Ella Baché, Tourism NSW, PlayStation, FurnitureMate and On-The-Run convenience stores.
Her passion is inspiring retail ideas using emerging technologies, creating retail environments and in-store brand experiences, but most of all she just loves to start a conversation.
