E-Commerce Search Engine, TheFind.com, Launches Apple iPhone Application

Mountain View, California - (Website Hosting Directory) - August 18, 2008 - Search engine e-commerce firm, TheFind, has premiered a new location-aware, comprehensive shopping search engine, with online comparison and local price information, on a portable basis.

TheFind: Where to Shop, is an application designed to give consumers the ability to leverage its powerful shopping search capabilities and comprehensive local store data from anywhere, via the Apple iPhone.

Siva Kumar, co-founder and CEO of TheFind noted, ''Since TheFind was launched in November 2006, we've continually improved our ability to help consumers as the leading shopping search engine for lifestyle goods, known for our comprehensive search capabilities, to find and purchase products in local neighborhoods. The key design point of our iPhone application was to blur the lines between the desktop and the mobile phone, creating a rich shopping experience for consumers, with comprehensive information available at anytime, from any location.''

TheFind: Where to Shop bridges the gap between online research and offline purchases, enabling shoppers to compare products and pricing while out and about -- and ensuring that they find exactly what they're searching for, quickly and easily within their neighborhood. With a comprehensive index of more than 250 million products covering 200,000 store locations, TheFind's iPhone application aims to be the best resource for savvy shoppers.

A study done by a popular industry analyst firm earlier this year on consumer behaviors related to mobile commerce surveyed 2,000 consumers in the US and the UK. When asked what features were most important to consumers, the study found that checking prices ranked second after checking store locations, and ranked above other activities such as checking delivery status via mobile phone, and receiving promotions and discounts.

TheFind's search capabilities will enable shoppers using their iPhones to:

Carry online shopping research - product searches, prices, store locations and sales information - with them anywhere they go. Whether traveling for business or pleasure, consumers can make their shopping trips more intelligent, efficient and fun.
Quickly and easily determine which retail outlets selling the desired items are closest in proximity. For every search, TheFind: Where to Shop graphically maps the locations of local brick and mortar stores that carry the desired item. Consumers can use the map to determine which location is the closest to them, saving time, money and gas. The application provides street addresses and phone numbers for each store location. To further refine search results, consumers can search by store type (i.e. department stores, boutiques, etc.).
Check in-store availability. Through integration with inventory look up capabilities offered by NearbyNow and Krillion, TheFind's iPhone application enables shoppers to actually check the inventories of nearby stores to see if a particular item is in stock. Additionally, all listings for local retailers have phone numbers listed so the busy shopper can call to check in-stock status before venturing out.
Compare online and local pricing and obtain the very best deal. TheFind: Where to Shop puts a wealth of information at ones fingertips enabling a shopper at a store to assess prices from other local and online retailers. TheFind's application alerts shoppers to various considerations such as items on sale and driving distance of retail outlets, so they can make purchasing decisions based on their individual preferences and criteria. Integration of online prices and local store information helps consumers select the best of the available options.

Local search is one of the fastest growing areas of search engine technology, and integration with brick and mortar stores, and location-specific data to facilitate in-store purchases is viewed as the last mile in search. A recent study found that 72% of consumers agree that online search engines are valuable in terms of researching offline purchases, and with an increasing number of consumers researching products online, then either purchasing those products online or from local retailers.

Michael Boland, Senior Analyst, The Kelsey Group explained, ''The iPhone's location awareness, faster downloads, lower price, and easy access to applications finally create mainstream appeal for mobile local search. As these new standards permeate the market, a consumer use case will quickly grow around finding things to do and buy locally. This will be especially resonant in the area of local shopping, and finding out exactly what stores have what promotions and what products on the shelf, right now.''

TheFind: Where to Shop location aware application that enables users to search for products they want to buy and then simply view relevant stores on interactive maps pinpointing local retail locations (identified by store icons near their current physical locations (identified by a location icon. The location information is determined using GPS or other positioning methods of the iPhone platform. For more information, including a comparison on online prices and prices of stores in their area, the retailer's address, phone number, product availability, and users simply need to click the various search options of the application. Users can also check inventory availability and reserve an item for in-store pickup.

TheFind: Where to Shop has signed up 100 beta testers, who will begin testing the application this month. The application will go through Apple's approval process in August and will be available to consumers for download from the iTunes App Store immediately upon official approval. TheFind plans to release TheFind: Where to Shop for other popular mobile platforms with standard browsers, 3G and location services.

TheFind, Inc. offers a shopping search engine that delivers comprehensive, authentic and visually compelling results for products across the lifestyle goods category. TheFind.com family includes leading fashion shopping website Glimpse.com, which specifically caters to fashion-savvy shoppers searching for the latest trends and hottest apparel products, and TheFindGreen.com, which finds organic brands, green stores and environmentally-friendly products all in one place. From the most popular e-commerce sites to the most unique, hard-to-find brands, TheFind.com uniquely crawls the entire web to find more than 200 million products from more than 500,000 stores. By using its patent-pending ''product ranking'' technology, TheFind.com displays the best-selling products, styles, brands and stores for any shopping search right on the first page of results - saving consumers time and money.

For more information about TheFind, please visit: www.thefind.com.

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