Flow, Amazon, and the Currency of Authority
A9.com, a holding of Amazon.com, Inc. recently announced a new UPC-leveraging iOS app that uses an augmented reality interface to provide users with meta-data on a specific product in their physical presence (reviews, product specs, etc).
Interestingly, however, it seems that the potential niche of the application isn’t based on Amazon attempting to undersell the B&M retailer within which the user is holding the product. After all, a culture of arrogant immediacy would rather pay $30 for the router they are scanning in Future Shop than wait 2-3 days to receive the same product from Amazon for only $25.
Predictably, the the central reason for Amazon’s attraction to the the app is likely its ability to generate vast quantities of meta-data based on what, where, and when objects are being scanned. Coupled with the demographic and real-time habit information of a specific user, this data becomes highly valuable to targeted marketers.
But observers shouldn’t discount the broader potential of a platform like Flow. What Amazon is really offering consumers is streamlined access to what is already considered one of the most trusted sources for crowd-sourced online product reviews, opinions and information.
If the app were to secure significant penetration within a sparse AR marketplace, Amazon could make enormous strides in cornering the market on immediate, real-time recommendation, thereby cementing their position as a bastion of consumer authority and bankable driver of purchasing decisions.
Amazon’s model points to a recognition of an emerging trend towards the currencisation of informational authority. Perhaps the release of Flow can be read as an indication that, in the long run, Amazon is recognizing the value of being the informed friend that the customer invites to shop with them, as opposed to the clerk behind the counter asking them for their postal code.
