College Students keep Amazon in their Back Pocket

Students who don’t have their books for their fall classes yet might want to see about saving a few dollars with Amazon.com’s latest app. This month Amazon released a free iPhone application called Amazon Student, designed to help students make price comparisons of textbooks sold by the online retailer. The app lets students use the iPhone’s camera to scan a textbook’s bar code to pull up options for that title. Amazon hopes students shopping in the campus store will use that feature to stop and consider buying the book online instead.

Here are some additional tips for educators looking to help students save: Textbook Choices 101: A Guide for Faculty

Included in the Amazon Student App:

– Instant Price Checks: Scan a barcode—check a price: It’s that easy. Shop smarter and compare prices on textbooks and everything else you buy, no matter where you are. Access Amazon.com’s low prices and vast selection to buy books, music, DVDs, electronics, apparel, and just about anything else from your phone.

– Sell Your Stuff: Turn your used stuff into Amazon.com Gift Cards. Just scan a textbook, game, movie, or gadget you no longer need and see the trade-in value for any eligible item. Ship it for free and get an Amazon.com Gift Card to spend on millions of items on Amazon.com.

– FREE Two-Day Shipping: The Amazon Student program offers college students FREE Two-Day Shipping for six months with Amazon Prime shipping benefits.

The Amazon Student app is free and available for iPhone and iPod Touch