Amazon In 3D? Is That Useful?
from the gimmick-or-useful? dept
Earlier this year, we talked about getting beyond the "webpage" metaphor when setting up online shopping experiences, and noted how Borders was testing a virtual bookshelf system that seemed more gimmicky than useful. Well, now it appears that Amazon has one-upped Borders by offering WindowShop, a 3D shopping experience... and once again I find myself underwhelmed. While it also has something of a shelf metaphor, it has some advantages in that clicking on any individual "product" can bring up audio, video and text about the product. However, it still feels rather gimmicky rather than useful. For years people have tried to create 3D browsing systems online and they never seem more useful than just straight webpages. In fact, in trying to replicate a 3D environment, it often feels like they're more limited than what a single webpage could do.![Hide This Hide this](https://ii.techdirt.com/s/t/i/topclose.png)
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Filed Under: 3d shopping
Companies: amazon
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After playing around with it, I actually wanted to see my recommendations and I looked for a way to login. It seems it is just a static top-whatever list, so I doubt I'll pay much attention to it in the future.
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It wasn't as slow as I thought it would be at first, but I'd still prefer the straight-up pages they use now.
Really, when I'm shopping or looking for information, the less frills the better. It's why I liked Google, but they are even going overboard a bit now. That new layout on iGoogle kinda sucks.
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Not actually too bad
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No Value Added
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What I Would Like To See
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How about TV purchasing and browsing
A nice interface that would work fine for TV purchasing by remote control without a keyboard, rather than text based typing and browsing.
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Before we crit..
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Before we crit..
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unfair
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Getting closer
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Missing the Point, I Think
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3d Internet
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