Shop 'Til You Drop With Your Cell Phone, Says Sprint


location based services

The new search service lets shoppers locate products in 30,000 retail stores across the U.S.
By W. David Gardner InformationWeek Jun 7, 2007 11:53 AM
The cell phone as shopping assistant debuted Thursday as Sprint introduced a GPS-based mobile search service that enables shoppers to locate products in 30,000 retail stores across the U.S.
Also this week, a GPS-based "point and search" service in Japan was upgraded for use in several cell phone handsets.
While the two services are different, they are illustrative of the advanced technological functions that are that are being installed in mobile phones.
The Sprint service, which was developed by GPShopper and is called Slifter, calls for shoppers to punch in a keyword, product name, model number or UPC code of a desired product. The response targets the nearest retail store and availability, price, and promotional information are displayed.
"Sprint customers can use their phones to find the closest retailer to purchase a desired item, without needing to check a phone book, Internet listing or map," said George Ranallo, Sprint's director of wireless data applications, in a statement.
In Japan, the Mapion Pointing Application 2.0 upgrade release was announced. Developed by GeoVector Corporation of San Francisco and Mapion of Tokyo, the service already receives more than 700,000 daily page views.
Users simply point a cell phone at an installation -- it might be a restaurant or a store, for instance -- and pertinent information is displayed on the phone's display; restaurants can display their menus, for example.
"Users and advertisers can now connect based on the user's interest," said GeoVector president John Ellenby, in a statement.
The service is available on the KDDI network on CDMA-equipped phones offered by Casio, Kyocera, and Sony Ericsson. A spokesman for GeoVector said a key device in the Mapion service is a compass, which when coupled with GPS technology enables the service.
"GPS understands where the phone is and the compass understands what you are clicking at," the spokesman said, adding the service is likely to catch on as cell phone manufacturers increasingly add compasses to their devices.
The Sprint service is immediately available for the firm's data customers for an additional $1.99 a month. The firm has been in the vanguard offering GPS applications including local search and various navigation services.
Large retailers including Best Buy Co., Staples Inc., and Toys 'R' Us Inc. have listed tens of thousands of product identifiers with GPShopper. According to media reports, GPShopper collects a fee whenever a shopper clicks on a store's product.