Sprint offers help with finding products in shops

by: admin Thursday, June 7th, 2007

Rating: not the silver bullet

Sprint Nextel is launching a search service – powered by GPShopper LLC – which uses global-positioning-system (GPS) technology to help consumers find products in nearby shops.

The service will allow shoppers to use their mobiles to find out where they can buy a certain iPod model or Nike trainers in a store nearby and at what price, based on a location signal sent by their phones or by typing in a zip code. They can then save the items to a shopping list and share them with friends via text message. The downloadable application, dubbed Slifter, will cost USD 1.99 a month for Sprint subscribers with data plans, which cost between USD 15 and USD 25 a month.

GPShopper says that until now, Slifter users had to type in a zip code as well as their product search terms, which was an inhibitor to take-up.

I’m not so sure about this argument. Data released by the UK’s m-spatial last week (see blog) suggested that in fact people primarily use local search facilities in their home area, with checking what’s on at the local cinema as the favourite app by far. Also, according to Guiseppe Rindone of satnav specialist Navigon, the most common use of its technology is by people on their homeward journey, not because they don’t know the way, but because they like find it comforting to know their estimated time of arrival.