SCANBUY on CBS2 - Los Angeles - Comparison Shop With Your Camera Phone

(CBS 2) Imagine having the ability to buy an item while knowing for certain you are getting the best deal. New technology may give consumers the upper hand over retailers by letting them scan prices and check for lower ones right on their mobile phones.Using the camera in your mobile phone to scan barcodes while you're shopping, the technology connects to the Internet to see if you are getting the best deal. That price could be online or it could be in a store."Without any question, this will revolutionize the way that we shop," said Phil Lempert of Consumer Insights. "Retailers are going to hate this technology. There's no question."CBS 5 asked major retailers to help us test this new technology and they all refused.So in our own test, we used Scanbuy, free software available online which works on a limited number of mobile phones.What did we find?One cordless phone was $34.99 at the store, and when we scanned it, Amazon.com had it for $42.28.A DVD was $22.99 at the store. Online it was $17.99.



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