In the midst of a recession, it is refreshing to see Amazon continues innovation with its Amazon App. The Amazon App has all that you expect from a online retailer mobile app. Product search, wish list, shopping cart, package tracking, account information, mobile online transaction are all there. There's more, the Amazon iPhone App allow users to identify any item in a picture taken with the iPhone, linking that picture to its mobile product page!
The full name for product identification part of the Amazon App is called Amazon Remembers. It is currently in experimental mode. The iPhone user take a image of an item. Then, hired Mechanical Turks will use their skilled identification and search skills to bring to the correct Mobile Amazon product page. The product page lets users read reviews, add to cart or wish lists, or buy that item.
That's right, image product identification is NOT done by a computerized system, but an actual human hired by Amazon Mechanical Turk division located somewhere on Earth to accomplish this complex task.
The results are surprisingly good. I took 3 picture of stuff around my bedroom. Within 5 minutes, Amazon came back with 2 accurate results for the NetGear WG Wireless Adapter and the Speed Stick Deodorant. Heh, they sell those on Amazon too. I would imagine these items are easy to identify because the item name is clearly marked in the photo. However the Logitech cordless mouse has less to go on. Surprisingly, after 30 minutes, the image only Logitech Cordless Plus Optical Mouse was correctly identified and linked to the correct product page.
This type of innovation can drive tech-savvy iPhone users to use the Amazon App more. It is really enjoyable to see how stuff around the house show up on Amazon. For Amazon this may mean better brand awareness and increased sales in the future.
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