A few days ago I was searching for new apps on my iPhone and saw that Amazon had created an app. I buy from Amazon all the time and use their “Wish List” feature to keep track of all of the books I’ll hopefully end up buying and reading eventually. I eargerly installed the app and began playing with it.
It had all of the features you’d hope for from Amazon – Search, Wish List, Shopping Cart and Account Info. It also had the “1-click to order” feature turned on. I thought this was a great idea from a business perspective because as a hyper-connected society, the faster the better especially when you’re mobile. But then I noticed this other feature called “Remembers”. I never remebered seeing anything like this on Amazon’s website before so I did a little research. I found this description from Amazon on the “Remembers” feature:
The ability to take pictures and have it stored didn’t really impress me much. I can quickly take a picture with my camera already and import it to Evernote for future reference. Oh, wait. It said I could take a picture and if it’s a 
product, Amazon would try to find it for me. This can’t be. I took a picture of Tim Sanders book Saving the World at Work to test this out.
After taking the picture the app told me it was searching for the book and would alert me when/if it was able to find it. A few minutes later I got an email and an alert on the app saying that it had found the book for me. It took me right to the book listing, showed me the price, reviews, shipping options, allowed me to add to my “Wish List” or buy.
From both a user and business prospective this is awesome, if it stays accurate. Amazon has added more value because they eliminated the extra steps of taking a picture and having to research it later when I got home. They also have increased the chances that I’ll buy by capturing my attention while I’m actively thinking about purchasing the product. If I choose not to buy right then, it reminds me that I told Amazon I was interested in this product the next time I login.
I look forward to testing the Amazon Remembers feature more in the coming weeks.
Good job Amazon!
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Justin – Nice pointer to the Amazon app! Of course the irony is that I already had this app installed on my iPhone, but didn’t remember it could use photos as Amazonian food. (Sigh)
Why in the world is all of the descriptive “text” on the page that Amazon provides, describing this app entirely embedded in a graphic? Do they not want people to use this? Bizarre!
Congrats on joining @chrisbrogan – you’re in good company. See you in the Boston area sometime?
Cheers,
Dan
Dan Keldsen’s last blog post..BizTechTalk Briefs 12/20/2008
@Dan – I had the app installed for weeks without noticing the feature but it’s really cool. I look forward to using it more and testing it out. Books are too easy to test with. Thanks for the congrats! It will be a lot of work and a lot of fun! I will definitely be in Boston a lot over the next 5 weeks as I prepare to move then will be moving up at the end of January.