Ribbit and Best Buy Debut First Social Mobile App at SxSW

March 13th, 2009 by Kristie Wells | located in Partners, Platform | trackback

I am a fan of beating our own drum now and then, and the release of the Consumers Price application seems like the perfect opportunity to do so.

A Ribbit developer created the application that represents an exciting new category of retail solutions: social mobile commerce. Built using the Ribbit Communications Platform and the Best Buy Remix API, Consumers Price enables consumers to tap into social conversations to get the best prices on the best products at Best Buy, and is the first voice-enabled big-box retailer social shopping experience.

The application integrates key Ribbit communication capabilities with Best Buy’s comprehensive online product pricing and availability data, as well as social tools including Google Maps, Twitter and Flickr. Consumers can save money by setting a target price for a product and receiving SMS or email updates when a product is available and in stock at a local store. Shoppers can use the integrated social conversation capabilities to create and obtain friend recommendations via SMS, email and Twitter, and create and listen to voice reviews of the products. For products such as cameras, users can even view Flickr photos shot by a specific camera model.

Whether they are shopping for a gaming console or a new camera, consumers can access voice reviews and friend recommendations, check store availability, set the price they are willing to pay, receive SMS updates when the product is locally available at the target price, and complete their purchase.

We will be demonstrating the Consumers Price application in the Circus Mashimus Mashery Lounge at this year’s SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas, March 14-17 (meeting room 2 on the first floor of the Austin Convention Center). Come on by and check it out live.

Quotes:

• Chuck Freedman, Ribbit’s director of developer platform - “Consumers Price demonstrates the ability of Ribbit to let developers generate revenue by quickly building a robust application and creating a viable business using just a few easily accessible APIs.  Consumers Price was built by combining Ribbit with APIs from Best Buy, Google Maps, Twitter and Flickr, but the possibilities for developers are endless.”
• Dan Seyer, vice president of product management for Ribbit - “Just as Priceline changed the travel industry, social mobile commerce is set to change the way consumers and retailers communicate, interact, and even negotiate. Consumers Price is just one example of the power of Ribbit to transform the retail experience, providing consumers with more options for finding the product they want at the best possible price, offering communities the opportunity to influence product inventories and pricing, and giving retailers such as Best Buy an important new way to engage consumers and move product in a down economy.”

And thank you to Kristin Niciole for the nice writeup on the announcement as well.

Exciting times ahead for sure as this is just the beginning of the cool things we’ve got up our sleeve.

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One Response to “Ribbit and Best Buy Debut First Social Mobile App at SxSW”

1. Best Buy's Social App | 2 Sentences or Less Says:
   April 7th, 2009 at 8:34 am

   [...] a leading retailers API (Best Buy)? The world’s first social mobile app called “Consumers Price“, which enables consumers to tap into social conversations to get the best prices on the [...]