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Apple's Research Into Social Aspects of Online Shopping Gaining Renewed Attention

Apple product positioning disclosed

One thing this patent application does is disclose how Apple views the marketplace it is in.

Electronics: Computers, MP3 Players, Cameras, Accessories

It appears iPhone and iPad is well within the category "computer". Probably iPod Touch as well despite for marketing purposes being positioned as an "MP3 player". iPod.

BTW, I agree, these are computers.

Rocketman
 
Well I think Apple is going to have to get over their bias against Flash pretty quickly in order to do this. But what do I know. :D
 
Sounds like a trip to Dullsville

Not nearly edgy enough in present form. Needs a little tweaking.

Let's try this: Give each virtual shopper their choice of avatar, along with their choice of deadly weapons, fast cars, and hot women. Add a Grand Theft Auto-esque scenario for the user's "shopping spree" to take place in. BOOM! You got something worth wasting a few minutes on.
 
Peace said:
This whole online social stuff is getting way out there.

When I go online looking for something the last thing I want is a salesman instant messaging me and asking if they can help. That's one of the reasons I don't go to brick and mortar stores. I do not like salesmen helping me unless I ask for help.
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So true. A few months ago I was online looking at cellphones and was hit with a popup chat window asking if I'd like to discuss any of the products. Heck no! That was annoying to say the least. Last thing I need is an online salesmen annoying me while I'm in the comfort of my own home. Might as well go back to telemarketing while they're at it.
 
MrGouda said:
So true. A few months ago I was online looking at cellphones and was hit with a popup chat window asking if I'd like to discuss any of the products. Heck no! That was annoying to say the least. Last thing I need is an online salesmen annoying me while I'm in the comfort of my own home. Might as well go back to telemarketing while they're at it.
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Would've been a bot.
 
I really don't like where Apple is going.

They're not even smart enough to figure out there iPad would be a fiasco, more and more geeks and trendsetters are getting tired of Apple lazyness and greediness, and the only thing they got figured out is how to be more greedy ?

What the heck !
 
MorphingDragon said:
Would've been a bot.
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Still doesn't change the fact that unwanted popups are still awful, regardless of who or what is the cause of them. So ... if there were an actual person on the other end and not a bot that initiated the popup chat everything would be okay? No way! It would still be just as intrusive and annoying.
 
I am getting rather concerned that Apple have completely taken their eye off the ball I play with, that being professional computing.
They are using their resources for all this consumer BS when they should be bringing out groundbreaking computers and software.
This is a very selfish post I know, but for me they are starting to lose it.
 
oldwatery said:
I am getting rather concerned that Apple have completely taken their eye off the ball I play with, that being professional computing.
They are using their resources for all this consumer BS when they should be bringing out groundbreaking computers and software.
This is a very selfish post I know, but for me they are starting to lose it.
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There's a thread for you:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/855974/
 
Social shopping

Yelmurc said:
What I'd like to see is Facebook or who ever allow its users to recommend products they buy and receive a affiliate reward if anyone buys from their recommendation. The one who is providing the service could take a cut and were all happy.
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Done 5+ yrs... thisnext.com Great concept but initial implementation suffered from irrelevant recommendations and only adequate GUI. May be much better now esp. with larger base of customer product recommendations.
 
Ehh....

I think the "unique" part might be in the details. Not sure I've seen one of these "virtual stores" tried before that offered such features as an easy/instant way to ask someone why they left a "cart item" behind in favor of another one.

Still, I think this concept is a dead-end. It's not so much "social networking" as it is "virtual reality", and so far, all these VR simulations prove to be slower and less efficient than "purpose built" solutions for accomplishing the same tasks online. (Why use bandwidth and waste time waiting for your video card to draw 3D representations of store walls, pathways, and even a 3D character to move around them, when you could just get a list of items for sale with one mouse click, and put one in a cart to buy with one more click?)

Sony's been trying to do this for a while now with their "@Home" virtual world for the Playstation 3 ... and really, most people only use it to play the games coded into the environment, like bowling. That's exactly how I figured it would pan out for them, because the best reason to bother with it is for purely entertainment purposes.


paul4339 said:
interesting idea; I'm surprised they got a patent on it... seems like it's been tried before... (you'd think that ebay or amazon had done this already).

Personally I don't think I would want to interact with other customers.
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