Amazon search goes visual

2005-01-28 08:38

Washington - Internet shopping giant Amazon.com on Thursday unveiled a new visual "yellow pages" search engine that provides pictures along with search results.

The company's A9.com search engine is aimed at high-speed internet users who want visuals along with text search results.

One feature includes the so-called "Block View", which according to Amazon "brings the Yellow Pages to life by showing a street view of millions of businesses and their surroundings".

The services uses trucks equipped with digital cameras, global positioning system receivers, and proprietary software and hardware that includes 20 million images from 10 US cities.

"It took integrated GPS receivers, digital cameras, sophisticated geocoding software and a lot of driving," said Amazon.com founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos.

"But 20 million curb-side photographs later, A9.com Yellow Pages lets you see where you are going before you get there."

A9 is also letting businesses list themselves for free, unlike the printed yellow pages, which can be expensive.

Searchenginewatch.com analyst Chris Sherman said the service "is a clear shot over the bow of Yahoo, which rolled out enhanced business listings for Yahoo Local last year. Yahoo charges $9.95 per month for enhanced listings."

Sherman added, "A particularly cool feature allows you to call a business simply by clicking a button on a webpage. Enter your phone number, click the button, and the system will automatically initiate a call between your phone and the business' phone."

- AFP