Shopaholics rejoice! Let us do the dance of joy! On Tuesday Amazon launched TextBuyIt, letting people text the name of a product, description, UPC or ISBN to the numbers “262966” (which is Amazon on the keypad), so we can buy from our cell phones, including from inside stores.
The service returns two results at a time, where you can buy one of the first two selections by texting “1” or “2,” or you can ask for more info by texting the letter “M.” Enter the e-mail address you have with your Amazon account and your shipping zip code and wait for the service to call you. They walk you through the checkout process with an automated voice system. You then get confirmation by text message and e-mail and as well as view your order online. The competition isn’t so happy but this is way, way cool.
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) (AMZN)'s brick-and-mortar competitors have yet another reason to fear the Web: a new service that lets shoppers compare prices and buy things with a few quick taps on their cell phones. Amazon TextBuyIt, which launched late Tuesday, lets people text the name of a product, its description or its UPC or ISBN to 262966 (that's "Amazon" on the keypad) from anywhere their cell phones work - including from inside physical stores.
Howard Gefen, director of Amazon mobile payments, would not directly answer when asked if the service is meant to extend Amazon's reach by poaching customers browsing at bookstores or big-box electronics retailers. "We think this is a great experience. We think they'll use the product...wherever they happen to be," he said.
(apnews.myway)
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