Target And Amazon Shop For Your App Cash
By Ian Bush
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- What Target calls its largest store on the east coast opens along Route 202 in King of Prussia on Sunday, but an even bigger battle is brewing for the shopping you do on your smartphone.
Sure, Target wants you in the doors at their new location, but they also want the dollars you spend whenever you're anywhere else.
Target's new mobile app is called In a Snap. Spot something you like in Real Simple or one of nine other home decor magazines? Scan the ad with the app and the product gets tossed into your virtual Target cart.
The timing, likely not coincidental.
"I'm going to press and hold the Firefly button and start recognizing things," said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos as he showed off a similar app on his company's Fire phone, which comes out Friday.
"Recognizes a book. What's this? Kosher salt -- look at the barcode," he demonstrated.
He brags that Firefly can ID nearly everything you throw at it, and, of course, it offers to sell you the item on Amazon.
Both apps have their shortcomings: Firefly works only on Amazon's smartphone; Target's idea helps only with its own Home Essentials products.