Tesco snubs iPhone with mobile commerce application

Tesco made two very interesting decisions this week. The first was to get into mobile commerce, by launching an application that allows you to shop for Tesco goods from your mobile phone. The second was to launch that application over Nokia’s Ovi Store first, claiming that iPhone’s aren’t mainstream enough.

The Tesco Grocery App

On Tuesday evening, Tesco submitted the Grocery App to Nokia for approval, and expects that it will be approved and available on Ovi within the next few days. The app is essentially a mobile tie-in with the Tesco.com grocery account. You can now access all the functions of Tesco’s on-line shopping service through your phone. All changes made to your order are automatically synced between your phone and your computer. You can even make changes to your order over your phone while it’s queued and waiting to be sent.

The app will work on a selected number of S60 devices: 5800, N97, N97 mini, X6, 5230 and 5530. These devices have been chosen because of their mainstream appeal – which is the same reason that the app is being launched on Nokia first, rather than iPhone. Speaking of which…

Why Nokia first?

Tesco has always been strongly in support of the iPhone. It has sold the last several iterations of the phone in-store, along with plans for the device through Tesco Mobile. Unfortunately for iPhone, Tesco knows all too well who its target audience is: over-worked Moms. And over-worked Moms are far more likely to be packing a Nokia than an iPhone.

What we think?

I think Tesco is targeting this app extremely intelligently. It’s not just that they’ve gone for Nokia rather than iPhone – it’s the whole concept of the app in the first place. The audience that Tesco is aiming for will probably relaxing on the couch with a cup of tea, fiddling with their Nokia, rather than sitting up at a laptop or desktop.