By Stephen Schenck | November 22, 2010 5:43 PM
Today Amazon released its Price Check app for the iPhone, allowing shoppers to scan products at local stores and instantly compare their prices against those of the online retailer.
Out just in time for the holidays, and all the gift-giving that goes along with it, Amazon Price Check gives you a way to see if the products you’re planning to buy might not be available cheaper elsewhere. To start off, you can either snap a picture of a UPC, take a photo of the cover of certain media items (DVDs, CDs, video games), or use the app’s speech-to-text or keyboard to enter in your query manually.
On the minus side, you’re only comparing prices against Amazon, instead of doing an exhaustive search for the best deal. Then again, Amazon’s known for having pretty competitive pricing, so it should give you enough of a sense as to what you should be paying, to avoid getting ripped off on any flat-out bad deals. For a broader price-comparison tool, something like RedLaser, also for the iPhone, may be more appropriate.
Price Check is available now in the App Store.
