We’re all used to tech-blog posts from either side of the iPhone / Android debate which are less than objective. It goes with the territory and it’s fair enough – personal blogs are personal.

Is it too much to ask that the mainstream media educate themselves a bit and don’t just focus on the iPhone though? Don’t know what I mean? Then just check out this prime example spotted in the Daily Telegraph (a ‘quality’ British national paper) the other day.

The article’s title, ‘I’ve seen the future of shopping and it cost me £1.19′ refers to the purchase by the author of Red Laser, an iPhone app which does much the same as Shop Savvy for Android. Except it doesn’t include a database of physical shops, just online prices. So it’s not free, it’s not as functional and it arrived on the market months after the Android offering – and yet the writer nearly wets himself with excitement. Here’s a particularly irritating passage:

What would be really good would be a high street version which can compare prices in physical stores. For the moment though, this will do very nicely indeed.

Well duh!

Unfortunately, this kind of thing is pretty common but hopefully as Android market share grows we’ll see it less. At least some of the comments at the end of the article set the author straight. Maybe he’ll read them.

I’ve seen the future of shopping and it cost me £1.19*.

There is an application for the iPhone called Red Laser. Once uploaded, Red Laser allows your mobile phone to read barcodes. Hold the phone above any barcode and it will – within a few seconds - identify the product. Less than 10 seconds later, the phone will give you a list of comparable prices of that product from websites around the UK.

It is astonishing. Like an over-excited schoolboy I have been scanning various things on my desk. I could have saved a fortune. Here are some examples:

- This Mitchell and Webb Book – prices range from its RRP (£18.99) to £9.48

- Our Economics Editor Ed Conway’s brilliant book 50 Economics Ideas – prices range from £9.96 (3p below the RRP) to £4.99 (Sorry Ed)

- An A4 notepad – prices (for the same pad!) range from £5.06 to £2.29

- The Checkout Girl, a book about working in Sainsbury’s by Tazeen Ahmad – prices range from £10.99 to £6.99

- A copy of Dizzee Rascal’s Tongue N’ Cheek CD – prices range from £16.99 (!) to £7.71.

So what do tools like this mean for retailers? They mean that even more power is in the hands of the consumers. They mean that shopping around is completely effortless. And they mean that there is absolute transparency on price.

What would be really good would be a high street version which can compare prices in physical stores. For the moment though, this will do very nicely indeed.

* Granted, one has to have an iPhone and an account with O2 to use Red Laser, which – clearly – increase the cost a tad.

I’ve seen the future of shopping and it cost me £1.19*.

There is an application for the iPhone called Red Laser. Once uploaded, Red Laser allows your mobile phone to read barcodes. Hold the phone above any barcode and it will – within a few seconds – identify the product. Less than 10 seconds later, the phone will give you a list of comparable prices of that product from websites around the UK.

It is astonishing. Like an over-excited schoolboy I have been scanning various things on my desk. I could have saved a fortune. Here are some examples:

- This Mitchell and Webb Book – prices range from its RRP (£18.99) to £9.48

- Our Economics Editor Ed Conway’s brilliant book 50 Economics Ideas – prices range from £9.96 (3p below the RRP) to £4.99 (Sorry Ed)

- An A4 notepad – prices (for the same pad!) range from £5.06 to £2.29

- The Checkout Girl, a book about working in Sainsbury’s by Tazeen Ahmad – prices range from £10.99 to £6.99

- A copy of Dizzee Rascal’s Tongue N’ Cheek CD – prices range from £16.99 (!) to £7.71.

So what do tools like this mean for retailers? They mean that even more power is in the hands of the consumers. They mean that shopping around is completely effortless. And they mean that there is absolute transparency on price.

What would be really good would be a high street version which can compare prices in physical stores. For the moment though, this will do very nicely indeed.

* Granted, one has to have an iPhone and an account with O2 to use Red Laser, which – clearly – increase the cost a tad.

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