Big in Japan | ShopSavvy Barcode Scanner App

ShopSavvy for Blackberry or Windows Phone 7

We began collecting email addresses from users who were interested in getting ShopSavvy on Windows Phone 7 and Blackberry. In fact, if you like, you can request a notification when either version of ShopSavvy is available (AND request to be included in the Beta period) here:

• ShopSavvy for Windows Phone 7 (Windows Mobile)
• ShopSavvy for Blackberry

Since we began accepting requests it has been interesting to note that Windows Phone requests have beaten out Blackberry requests two to one. This is despite the fact that Blackberry devices out number Windows Mobile devices more than two to one. That got me thinking, why don’t Blackberry users make more requests than WinMo users? I began asking every Blackberry user I meet, “What is your favorite app?” More often than not the Blackberry user won’t know what I am talking about. If they do know about Blackberry apps, and again this is a very small minority, they explain to me that they have very little memory capacity – most tell me email takes up all of the space on their phones. When I press the folks who don’t know about apps they have no idea how to get the app store on their phone. As RIM attempts to target a revamped Blackberry at iPhone users it will be interesting to see if our numbers trend differently.

Posted by amuse | June 15, 2010 - 8:09pm | 14 Comments
Category: ShopSavvy (Windows Mobile), ShopSavvy RIM

Smartphone Platforms as Super Heroes

Lots of people ask me what I think of the various smartphone platforms. Rylan came up with a super hero for each smartphone. Here are his picks:

iPhone::Batman – is loved for his human limitations, gadgets, style and willingness to play by his own rules. The iPhone will continue to be loved by millions.

Blackberry::Wolverine – both are from Canada and are very old (80 years old I think). Neither are much to look at, but they are very scrappy. Both are notoriously difficult to work with.

Windows Mobile 6.5::Captain American – was once relevant during WWII, has no special powers and is generally irrelevant to most Americans today. Windows Mobile will continue to become less and less relevant.

Windows Phone 7::The Phoenix – rose from the ashes and is disturbingly powerful. Windows Phone has a real chance of being a hit.

Palm WebOS::Robin – forever in Batman’s shadow. At one point Robin died and was replaced. There is some hope for Robin as he did eventually become Nightwing. Perhaps with HP’s support WebOS has a chance.

Android::Apocalypse – has complete control over the atomic structure of his body, looks like a robot and has limitless potential. Android’s strength is also its weakness, it can be everything to anyone.

Symbian::Arm Fall Off Boy – was so lame he was rejected by all of the other superheroes. Enough said…

Posted by amuse | April 30, 2010 - 1:37pm | 10 Comments
Category: Android, Big in Japan, ShopSavvy (Android), ShopSavvy (Pre), ShopSavvy (Touch), ShopSavvy (Windows Mobile), ShopSavvy (iPhone), ShopSavvy RIM

Need some PR? Google can help!

Since the launch of ShopSavvy in 2008, we have had two primary competitors – Google and Amazon. Last week Google launched their THIRD barcode scanning shopping app (1st was Barcode Scanner (open source project by Google folks and 2nd was Google Goggles) called Google Shopper. All three are great apps. Lots of people have asked me, “So is this the end of ShopSavvy?”

The simple answer is, “I hope not.”  Google and Amazon are NOT the sort of competitors a startup should take lightly, but I do think their (repeated) entrance into our space is good news. We really stumbled onto something when we our app first won Google’s Android Developer Challenge and (obviously) they didn’t over look this fact.

100% of our focus is on making ShopSavvy the BEST shopping application on the market. Our goals are simple:

1. No. 1 INFORM the user
2. No. 2 EMPOWER the user
3. No. 3 INSPIRE the user

We have been doing No. 1 for about 18 months. We are just about to offer No. 2 with our payments integration. Finally, we hope to complete No. 3 by the end of the second quarter. Earlier this month I wrote about focusing on what your competitors are doing in a post titled, “Negative Target Acquisition“. We will keep trying to make ShopSavvy the BEST shopping application on the market. Ironically, Google’s new app has DRAMATICALLY increased our download volume. We are adding new users at a level we have NEVER seen before. Google’s PR effort is amazing, but interestingly my Google Alert’s for ‘ShopSavvy’ have been going off every hour as a new stories mentions both Google’s new app AND ShopSavvy. It is insane. So, I just wanted to thank Google for all the PR. We will continue to attempt to innovate and users will decide the ultimate winner(s).

Posted by amuse | February 20, 2010 - 2:25pm | 3 Comments
Category: ShopSavvy (Android), ShopSavvy (Pre), ShopSavvy (Touch), ShopSavvy (Windows Mobile), ShopSavvy (iPhone), ShopSavvy RIM

ShopSavvy Platform – Updated

ShopSavvy is current available on Android (Droid, Hero, Nexus, Eris, G1, MyTouch) and iPhone 3GS.  We are currently working on versions for:

• Android (all AF camera versions) – Launched!
• Android (Devour, Tattoo, Lancaster – i.e. non-AF cameras) – June 2010
• iPhone (2G/3G – i.e. non-AF cameras) – Launched!
• Windows Mobile – July 2010
• Blackberry – Nov 2010
• Symbian/Nokia – Launched!
• PalmOS – June 2010

Based on our current workload and staff these dates seem reasonable. Of course, our iPhone version took us almost three months longer than we expected (and we still don’t have the 2G/3G working well).  We get LOTS of emails each day, hopefully this update will help.

Posted by amuse | February 4, 2010 - 4:33pm | 42 Comments
Category: Android, ShopSavvy (Android), ShopSavvy (Pre), ShopSavvy (Touch), ShopSavvy (Windows Mobile), ShopSavvy (iPhone), ShopSavvy RIM

Retailers Who Price Match

Lots of you ask, “Which retailers will price match?”  I found an interesting site that seems to answer this question for a number of retailers called Price Pinx.  Here are some of the retailers they follow:

Price Guarantee and Price Match Policies

Posted by amuse | December 21, 2009 - 8:20am | No Comments
Category: ShopSavvy (Android), ShopSavvy (Pre), ShopSavvy (Touch), ShopSavvy (Windows Mobile), ShopSavvy (iPhone), ShopSavvy RIM