Tech Blog

[#1]

There may come a day soon when everything and everyone will have an iPhone app. The latest comes from Future Shop, one of the first retailers in Canada to offer an app that not only opens up the great Tech Blog we have here, but also the whole catalogue for consumers to browse through. You can even make a purchase and have it shipped to you or pick it up in a store near you.

For the most part, it looks like the app offers a lot of what the website already does, and that includes the community forums as well. Ratings, review, product details and images are all as they would normally appear, albeit in a condensed and cleaner interface.

The app looks like it will also be intended to act as a digital flyer, if you will. Promotions and sales will be updated on the app. A map has also been built-in to indicate where Future Shop locations are near you. I also tried the search engine to see how it finds products, and it seems to do the job more or less the same as the website.

Not sure if this is a test run in any way, as it would’ve been really cool if Future Shop came out with Android and BlackBerry versions at the same time. But nevertheless, from what I’ve seen so far, this app is a good start. It’s clean, it works and it doesn’t really take much to understand how to use it. I’m curious to see if they’ll eventually use push notifications to keep people apprised of sales and promotions, but that’s not in the cards at the moment.

I’m hoping that video will be incorporated here at some point as well, especially for products that would benefit from that kind of visual. Time will tell, but for now, if you have an iPhone or iPod touch, give Future Shop’s free app a shot.