A9 releases AR shopping for Amazon with Flow on iOS

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A9 releases AR shopping for Amazon with Flow on iOS
This news is both interesting and deeply frustrating at the same time. A9, which is a subsidiary of Amazon, has released a new app which looks awesome. It's called Flow, and it's quite a bit like Google Shopper or Google Goggles, except for 3 main differences: 1) it's a bit more real-time than those, 2) it's hooked directly to Amazon, and 3) it's iOS only.

The first two points are what make the app interesting, because some of us don't need or want all of the other shopping results that may be pulled in from Google Shopper, and may want Amazon directly. It's also nice that it does very similar things, like scanning product packaging and barcodes to give you a real-time result of the product listing in the Amazon store.

It's the last point that rankles us a bit. Granted, Amazon's upcoming Kindle Fire tablet, which is based on Android, wouldn't be able to use the app anyway because of a lack of a camera. But, it's just strange that an app like this would be iOS only in general. There is no good reason why this app isn't cross-platform, it's likely just a matter of developer resources to devote to the task.

Flow is available for free in the iTunes App Store.

source: A9 via The Verge

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