Q: I still do all of my shopping in real stores, but there must be a smartphone application to make the whole process easier. Suggestions?
A: The Aisle411 app for your iPhone hasn't launched yet -- it should any hour now; you can sign up on the site to be notified of its release if you want to know right away -- but it's already received a fair bit of coverage. And that's because it promises to help you find products in specific sections at more than 600 retail stores around the country. A simple search will tell you where in the store to go to find whatever product you're after.
But that's not all. Aisle411 will also combine shopping lists, reviews and offers with the application's primary function: search. Scan a product's UPC code with your camera (only available on the iPhone version of the application) and product reviews from Amazon.com will automatically pop up on your screen. The shopping lists allow you to make simple lists of everything you want to purchase. You can already do this using Notes (iPhone) or a similarly simple application, but those won't take your list and find the items on an interactive map like Aisle411 will. Because GPS and in-building Wi-Fi-based geolocation tool still aren't accurate enough, Aisle411 uses landmarks -- aisles and shelves -- to direct you from one product to the next.
