The new TicTap service lets you search the Amazon product catalog using an SMS (text) message. To get started with TicTap, simply send an ISBN number, a UPC code, or even some keywords to 763-807-3927 and wait for the reply. TicTap performs an ECS search and returns the results to you as a text message.
The returned message includes the Product name, the Amazon price, the list price, the review count, and even the Amazon 'star' rating.
The screen shot at right shows a sample message as returned by TicTap.
Hi everyone,
I'm a co-founder of TicTap, and would like to mention a few things.
1) There is a small typo in the SMS number. it should read 763-807-3927 instead.
2) TicTap goes beyond mobile search! Using TicTapWeb (http://www.tictap.com/search), which is our web search interface, you can also look for products online. Included in TicTapWeb is a host of nifty features like labels, related searches, spelling suggestions, and a lot more.
Our blog, http://blog.tictap.com describes all these features and everything that we're working on.
Drop me an email (alexchoowk at tictap.com) if you have any feedback or feature requests.. Damon and I know we're not amazon, so we'll try harder ;)
Posted by: Alex Choo | May 21, 2005 at 10:04 AM
Heh, I recently wrote a small Perl script for myself to do the Amazon lookup. Only if I knew this services exited!
Posted by: Hunox | May 26, 2005 at 05:22 PM
What a great idea! You'll be wanting to think about adding conversational language search, like Scan Mobile did, which launched this service back in late '99 but was acquired in early '03.
Posted by: Jon Beverley | May 26, 2005 at 05:31 PM
Jon Beverley,
Can you please explain what you mean by conversational language search? I tried to google for Scan Mobile but nothing came up.
Would 'add' this in if it's something that can benefit everyone.
We've just added 2 more features to TicTapWeb.
1)For movie DVDs and VHS taps, you can find links to movie reviews found at Google.
2)You can lookup book at your local library!
Our blog http://blog.tictap.com has the details.
Posted by: Alex Choo | May 26, 2005 at 10:54 PM
I thought this was cool but I need prices for amazon.ca too!
Posted by: Duncan | June 09, 2005 at 03:08 PM
Also,
Is there a way to have my wishlist sent to my phone?
I'm often in bookstores but can't remember what books I wanted to buy!
Posted by: Duncan | June 09, 2005 at 03:10 PM
Duncan,
Being able to access your wishlist thru the phone is an excellent idea. Damon and I will certainly look into working on that.
At the moment, we're putting a lot of effort on TicTapWeb. Do you know you can send price info from your desktop to your phone using it? :)
Posted by: Alex Choo | June 13, 2005 at 09:46 AM
We just added a products that are 'highly' wished by consumers.
check out http://www.tictap.com/sh/mostwished
Posted by: Alex Choo | July 13, 2005 at 10:15 AM
We have just released a Konfabulator widget for TicTap!
With this tool, you can find the top selling, most-gifted and most-wished products from Amazon.com
The download link is:
http://www.tictap.com/downloads/TicTap.widget
Posted by: Alex Choo | July 27, 2005 at 01:50 PM
The TicTap has been updated!
You can also find the newest releases, and even SMS product info straight to your cell phone!
Posted by: Alex Choo | August 02, 2005 at 10:55 PM
The TicTap widget has been updated!
You can also find the newest releases, and even SMS product info straight to your cell phone!
http://www.tictap.com/downloads/TicTap.widget
Posted by: Alex Choo | August 02, 2005 at 10:56 PM
The TicTap widget has been accepted into the widget gallery at Konfabulator.
You can always download the latest version at http://www.tictap.com/free or http://www.widgetgallery.com/dl_r.php?widget=36781
Posted by: Alex Choo | August 07, 2005 at 12:18 AM
You can now get product recommendations using TicTap!
Just text r followed by the ISBN or UPC code.
for example, try r 0439784549 for books similar to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Posted by: Alex Choo | August 13, 2005 at 11:42 AM
There's been a lot of talk about the long tail of Amazon.com. Nobody actually mentions anything about what these products are.
Now, TicTap can search the long tail of Amazon.com's database!
http://blog.tictap.com/index.php/2005/08/23/searching-amazoncoms-long-tail/
Posted by: Alex Choo | August 23, 2005 at 09:27 AM
Clustered product search is now available.
example:
http://www.tictap.com/clust/books
Posted by: Alex Choo | October 08, 2005 at 02:32 PM
TicTap now works for any mobile device that supports XHTML mobile profiles.
http://www.tictap.com/xhtml
Posted by: Alex Choo | October 30, 2005 at 06:14 PM