Amazon.com Introduces Text-Message Shopping

Amazon.com has rolled out a new service - Amazon TextBuyIt - that enables users to compare prices and by products using text messages from their mobile phones.

Leading e-tailer Amazon.com is continuing to push the boundaries of digital retailing, announcing TextBuyIt, a new service that lets Amazon.com customers compare prices and buy products from Amazon’s digital shelves using text messages from ordinary cell phones. The idea is to let customer compare prices and make purchases from wherever they might be…and Amazon is probably OK with customers using TextBuyIt while walking the aisles of competing brick-and-mortar retailers.

"With TextBuyIt, if you’re walking out of a concert and want to buy a CD from the artist you just saw, or if you’re at dinner and a friend tells you about a great book you should read, all you have to do is get out your mobile device, send a text message to Amazon, reply to the response, confirm your order, and your item will be on its way," said Amazon’s director of mobile payments Howard Gefen, in a statement. "It’s incredibly simple and convenient."

To use the service, Amazon.com customers send a text message to "AMAZON" (262966) with the name of a product, a UPC code, or another search term. Amazon will reply via text messages with products that match the search criteria, two at a time. To purchase an item, users just reply with the unique single-digit number matching the item they want to buy; to confirm a purchase, an Amazon automated system will call the customer back to handle the details. Shoppers will receive purchase confirmation by text message and email.

The first time Amazon customer use the TextBuyIt service, they’ll need to enter the email address and shipping ZIP code associated with their Amazon.com account; Amazon will use the account’s default settings for shipping and payment.

TextBuyIt expands Amazon’s mobile offerings, including a version of the Amazon.com Web site optimized for mobile browsers, as well as a version of the site for iPhone users.