Filed under: Software, Internet Tools, iPhone
Amazon has an iPhone portal
This is yet another moment where I wish I was cool enough to get Erica's iPhone screenshot utility working, because this is pretty impressive: visiting Amazon.com in MobileSafari on an iPhone will display a small alert at the top of the page, prompting you to visit their new beta iPhone portal. The customized site is pretty slick and offers a healthy array of navigation options. The top of the page has a search box, with side-scrolling image thumbnails of the top selling music albums just below. Next in line is a pull down menu of top selling products across what looks like the entirety of Amazon's category selections, including Baby, DVD, Electronics, Health, etc. Next is a big fat 'iPhone beta site feedback' button - a great idea if I do say so myself - and finally, a list of links for the basics such as signing into your account, viewing your shopping cart and the Help section.For a beta site it's a nice first offering, but I am a bit more surprised by the fact that Amazon - the King Kong of online retail - has introduced a shopping and searching portal specifically for the iPhone. Could they have started a trend, inspiring other retailers to make it easier than ever for you to spend money with one of the most expensive gadgets you've ever bought? Only time will tell.
[Update: Thanks to commenters reminding me about iPhoney, I was able to snap an actual screenshot of the site on an iPhone.]
Thanks Jamie
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Query said 3:17PM on 8-17-2007
Looks decent, but it definitely isn't really iPhone-like in its design.
Oh, and by the way, you can view it using iPhoney, so you don't need to take a screenshot.
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Cynthia said 3:22PM on 8-17-2007
I like the site, but it doesn't seem to "pinch" which I find a bit troublesome. Some of the text is hard to read for my middle-aged eyes.
Cynthia
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Cynthia said 3:23PM on 8-17-2007
I take that back, now it seems to be "pinching"
so sorry,
C
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NutMac said 4:10PM on 8-17-2007
I agree with Query. Aside from top selling music scroller, the whole thing feels like a typical mobile website. Definitely not in the same league as Digg, Facebook, Newsgator. Still, Amazon is among the very first by major web company.
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c said 4:11PM on 8-17-2007
Does TUAW have an "Everything but IPhone" RSS feed? My newsreader is constantly full of crap about the iphone..
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David Chartier said 4:15PM on 8-17-2007
#5: Yep, we've mentioned it a few times. Here's the original post:
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/06/22/iphone-free-tuaw-feed/
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joesefff said 4:17PM on 8-17-2007
Specialized 'Made for iPhone' pages? Sounds like the 'baby internet' to me, Steve.
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Benjamin said 4:18PM on 8-17-2007
Somewhat related to this, HarperCollins is pushing a new iPhone portal for browsing book contents at http://mobile.harpercollins.com/. The story is here http://www.reuters.com/article/technology-media-telco-SP/idUSN1523610320070815
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icruise said 4:24PM on 8-17-2007
joesefff --
The difference is that you CAN use the normal Amazon site if you want to, but there are many times when you won't want to have all the additional crap onscreen that makes it take longer to download and makes it harder to view on a small screen. I don't see a problem with having additional, iPhone-optimized sites if it makes things easier.
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Joe Stebbins said 4:49PM on 8-17-2007
I agree with Joesefff #9
I praise them for doing this and hope other web sited like rottentomatoes and imdb.com will appreciate our responsiveness and respond in kind. All we seem to miss out on are links and ads which is fine with me.
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David Chartier said 4:52PM on 8-17-2007
'Just the internet' downloads great when you're on Wi-Fi, but it begins to feel like you're using 'just a dialup modem' on EDGE. Still, I'm glad Apple made the choice over 3G since it's such a battery hog, but that's the niche these iPhone-optimized sites fill nicely: they're great for browsing while away from Wi-Fi.
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Brandon said 4:52PM on 8-17-2007
I'm also happy to see this. The regular Amazon homepage takes forever to load over EDGE, so I'll definitely use this when I'm away from Wi-fi.
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Chandler said 7:35PM on 8-17-2007
So this is why they shut down Telemoose (http://www.telemoose.com/).
I found their implementation much better.
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mckoder said 9:45PM on 8-17-2007
This is ridiculous. The reason I paid $499 for an iPhone is because of its ability to view full-fledged web pages, not some mini-internet. I am familiar with the full amazon site. I don't want to become familiar with the iphone-amazon site. Don't these guys watch the Apple commercials? It specifically say iPhone brings you the INTERNET, period, not some "Mobile Internet", damn it. And this right after Yahoo started delivering crippled Internet to iPhone: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5052150
At this rate, iPhone will lose one of its most important features. No more full Internet. Soon, I expect NYTimes.com will start delivering mobile-internet to the iPhone. I will ebay my iPhone when that happens.
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Stephane said 9:44AM on 8-18-2007
This is my first post, so please bear with me here.
I, like many others, love the iPhone and think there is great potential for the device. However, I am also troubled by the lack of native third party applications due to Apple’s locked system. I have seen numerous posts from iPhone users begging to have their favorite Mac widgets ported over to the iPhone. While I think that would be great, I don’t see Apple rushing to do this until they can somehow monetize these widgets. Well yesterday, as I checked out Amazon’s new iPhone-specific web portal, it dawned on me that Apple can create a huge revenue stream by getting into the ad business, while also giving us all the other widgets we love so much.
Imagine the following:
You plug your iPhone into your computer one day and discover a new tab called myMall. Under this tab is a listing of popular retailers, whose online stores you’d like to have synced to your iPhone. Think ‘bookmarked,’ but much better because when you next turn on your iPhone you find a button on the home page called myMall. Clicking it leads to a page similar to the home page, but each new button is a native widget for the retailers you’ve chosen to sync with iTunes. Now, the appeal here is the absolute ease and pleasure in maneuvering these widgets to carry out purchases.
Imagine now that you have chosen to sync the Barnes & Noble widget with your iPhone. Then, one day, you’re sitting on the bus and see someone reading a book you have been meaning to read yourself, but kept on forgetting. Well, instead of making yet another mental note, what if you could do the following:
1. Click on your B&N widget.
2. Type in your search into a VERY simple and elegant page.
3. Have all of your results come up in the Cover Flow format, with only product pictures showing. (let’s face it, Cover Flow is great, but wasted on the iPod).
4. Scroll back and forth through the result and click on a cover to make it flip and reveal product details (synopsis, ratings, review, other formats, etc.)
5. Quickly add items to your shopping cart.
6. Pay for your items using one of the credit cards saved on your iTunes (this is already done with songs so it can’t be that difficult to build on), or enter new credit card information.
7. Have your item(s) shipped to an address that is saved in your iTunes account, or enter a new shipping address.
8. Enter a pin number of sorts to confirm my order and finalize the transaction.
I realize the process listed above ‘appears’ long, but anyone can see that the actual use of this ‘widget’ would be as fluid and simple as the google maps interface that is currently present on the iPhone. Further, with something like this generating revenue for Apple they should have a greater incentive to provide the non-retail-oriented widgets (like AIM, To Do Lists, lyrics search) that we all been clamoring for.
That is the idea, and I would love some feedback from any and all on its feasibility and:
1. How it can be refined.
2. The ideal pricing structure between Apple and the participating retailers.
3. Security issues regarding the storage of private financial data on iTunes, and any holes I'm not thinking of right now.
4. How Apple’s relationship with Google can be utilized here.
5. The potential reaction from ad giants such as Google.
6. Possible legal ramifications.
7. A list of stores that would work well as iPhone widgets. Personally, I would love to have the following store widgets on my iPhone: Barnes & Nobel, eBay, JetBlue, 1800Flowers, Nike, Best Buy, Cirtcuit City, Walmart, Apple Store, Game Stop, Puma, Pottery Barn, Ikea, Amazon, Ticketmaster, Yankees (team specific widgets?), Fandango, Moviefone, Gap (simple retailers, but no giants like Macy’s?), Expedia, Hotels.com, Sephora.
8. Oh yeah, good idea or bad idea?
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yaknowho said 1:39PM on 8-18-2007
you gotta love it - here's steve jobs touting how the iphone's got the real internet, no watered down version with special portals... and yet everyday i am reading about new iphone portals popping up... makes one wonder - how great and easy can the regular internet experience on the iphone be?!
oh well. don't believe the hype.
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