LedgeSolutions

Here are three interesting stories/developments relating to mobile initiatives …

• Amazon offers a “complete rewrite” of its site to take advantage of the iPad’s features and functionality. The app, Windowshop, sounds promising. I haven’t tried it yet but fully intend to.



• As a kayaker, I was pretty geeked to see RapidMedia partner with Outdoor Retailer to offer a product catalog for the iPad. I was considerably less geeked once I dug into it. I love being able to browse through all the cool paddling paraphernalia. It reminded me of paging through the Sears catalog as a child, identifying which toys I wanted for Christmas. Where the RapidMedia app falls down is in usability. Any time I want more detail on a product, I have to click out of the app (a common problem with apps) to a page that launches in Safari. Then I have to go back to the app after I’ve looked at the product. Very cumbersome, and to make matters worse, many of the links go only to the main page of the site, not directly to the page of the product I’m clicking to learn more about. I’d add a wish list feature to the app that allows you to add the products you’re interested in to a cart. Then when you’re done browsing, the cart can take you to the web for more info or help you keep track of the stuff you want under the tree (and email your list to your personal Santa).
• From another New York Times story, Aro Mobile is using a $20m investment from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen to try to make your smart phone smarter. Right now, it’s available only for Android, but it sounds very promising. From the story: “Say, for example, a message comes in outlining dinner plans for that evening. Aro Mobile highlights several pieces of information within the messages, like the name of the restaurant, other attendees and the time of the event. It then offers the user options like adding the event to the calendar, mapping directions to the place or contacting the other people on the invite list.”