E-com giant Amazon has rolled out yet another app for iPhone and iPod Touch, bringing its App Store presence to an exhausting four (five, if you count the iPad-specific Windowshop). The new app, Amazon Deals, makes its focus saving you money, specifically offering access to Amazon’s Lightning Deals and Gold Box Deals of the Day.
Upon first launch, you’ll be asked if you want to allow push notifications, which will alert you to new deals. If this is something you’re interested in, you’ll also need to head into the in-app settings panel and manually turn on notifications for them to work. You can opt to be alerted to all deals, or just turn on specific categories. I found it strange that the app didn’t turn on notifications when I selected “Allow” initially, but I like that I can see only what interests me.
Amazon Deals supports your existing Amazon account, so logging-in enables you to purchase deals from within the app, either by adding them to your cart or through one-click (or tap, rather) buy it now. Like a typical Amazon page, users will be able to see full product information and customer reviews, along with the amount of deals purchased and its time frame — Gold Box and Lightning Deals have limited availability. If there’s a deal you like. you can share it through email or text or via Facebook or Twitter. Instead of the typical list of sharing options, they’re displayed as horizontal buttons — a clean look I haven’t seen in other apps. Users can also view deals coming up later in the day through the “Today” tab, or gluttons for punishment can see what products they’ve just missed.
Amazon Deals ranks simply OK: It’s an average app. I didn’t find anything fundamentally wrong with the app, but Amazon’s lack of self-awareness (how many Amazon apps does one need?) gives it a downgrade.
