Amazon Debuts “Flow” an Augmented Reality Shopping App for iPhone

Amazon.com subsidiary A9.com introduced a new iPhone app that uses barcode and image recognition to recognize tens of millions of products in a live camera view, enabling users to get real-time information about the products they are considering to purchase. Flow Powered by Amazon is an augmented reality app that, according to A9, recognizes products, from books and DVDs to packaged electronics and toys.

The way the app works is quite simple. Once the Flow is downloaded, customers point their iPhone toward a product with UPC code, such as a book, video game, CD, DVD, etc. When Flow identifies the product, it will almost instantly show the related info from the Amazon.com, such as the pricing and availability, and includes the option to play multimedia content and read customer reviews.

“This is our first step towards integrating product search technology with augmented reality,” Bill Stasior, president of A9.com said in a statement. “The integration of a live camera display, graphical overlays, and visual recognition technology creates a seamless experience for a customer looking to discover information about objects in their physical surroundings.”

Flow saves the history of items that a user has scanned and also allows him to delete scanned items. The app also lets users share product information with friends via email, and Facebook and Twitter as well. There is an option for immediate purchase of items from Amazon.com directly through the app, including shipping with Amazon Prime. Flow Powered by Amazon is available in the Apple’s App Store for free, and it requires iOS 4.3 or later.