Buy Products Seen on TV Via the Updated eBay iPad App
Just when you thought eBay couldn’t become any more addictive and attractive, they have updated their popular iPad app with a feature they are calling “Watch With eBay.” By allowing users to bring up the app while watching their favorite television program, sporting event or movie, they can then explore the world of related merchandise.
Results so far are mixed, but I think we can expect it will only improve with time. If you are a collector that enjoys meaningful props and decorative items or you want to have the exact same jacket or sunglasses worn by your most-loved leading character, this app should make it possible.
This new feature (currently only available in the iPad version of the eBay app) supports the growing trend toward “couch commerce,” a term being coined by the press representing the considerable number of purchases we make while relaxing and watching television with our mobile devices in hand. With our lives becoming busier and more complex, this is becoming one of the ways we combine recreation time with getting errands taken care of.
This holiday season, online shopping is King. So many of us are avoiding busy shopping mall parking lots in favor of making our purchases online and in many cases this means using our iPads to make that process even easier.
I’d like to see an improvement made to this app feature that allows you to somehow key in the commercial you are watching so that you can easily start shopping for the toy your child is getting so excited about while they are watching television with you. It seems like half the time the commercial is over before I realize my children have wide eyes from having watched it.
If anybody can make this concept a success it will be eBay. The online auction giant can boast being the largest online marketplace with over 200 million listings and 58 million mobile users.
