Amazon’s New iPhone App Offers In-Store Price Comparisons, One Click Purchases

As we near Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Amazon is launching a new way to comparison shop on the go. Called Price Check, the free iPhone app allows users can scan the barcode of a product, take a picture of an item or say the product’s name to access product listings on Amazon.com’s marketplace. If the product is listed on Amazon, customers can then purchase the item with one click.

The beauty of the app is that you can use several ways to search for an item when you are in a store. Using Amazon’s barcode scanner, which was recently added to the company’s primary iPhone app, you can simply scan the barcode and the app will match an item and provide pricing from Amazon.com and other online merchants.

You can also use the app to snap a photo of the item and match the picture to books, DVDs, CDs and video games (Amazon says it will be adding more categories to this soon). You can also speak or type the product’s name into the app.

The app by default will display prices sorted from lowest to highest and will also show if the item is available for free shipping. Amazon says that Price Check includes prices on “millions of products” and also includes access to customer reviews; sharing via Twitter, Facebook, text message or e-mail link; and immediate purchasing using 1-Click ordering and Amazon Prime.

For online retailers like Amazon and eBay, comparison shopping apps that include barcode scanning is a way to draw in-store shopping to online marketplaces. As we wrote this morning, eBay launched a similar comparison shopping feature this morning that leverages barcode scanning technology.

The company also recently launched a new shopping app, called Window Shop, for the iPad.

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Amazon’s Price Comparison App for iPhone Falls Just Short of Great

Amazon has released a free new price comparison app for iPhone that allows users to quickly compare in-store prices with the prices of Amazon and its affiliated merchants by snapping a photo, scanning a barcode, or speaking or typing in the name of a product.

If said product is cheaper, users can then purchase the item for delivery in a single click.

While we love the search and quick purchase options, the app [iTunes link] ultimately isn’t that useful because it only allows users to compare a single store price with the prices of Amazon and its sellers.

RedLaser [iTunes link] (which was acquired by eBay in June and has now been fully integrated into eBay’s primary iPhone app), on the other hand, lets users scan an item’s barcode and compare it with a full range of nearby stores and online merchants to determine the best price.

What do you think of the app? Do you have a favorite app for comparison shopping?

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