There's a Shopping App for That

[Trendzilla] Coupon Sherpa, Stylebook and Amazon Mobile are there to help

A A A Comments (1) By VICKIE CHANG Thursday, May 5 2011

Hey, there's nothing like an iPhone app that helps you spend money. Here's a round-up of the three best iPhone apps—'cause, hey, if you're going to spend money, you might as well spend as little as possible in as little time as possible. Right? Right.

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AMAZON MOBILE
Sure you can blame Amazon for a squillion and one Borders bookstores shutting down (here's my chance to encourage you to support your local independent bookstore!), but it's actually great for determining if you should purchase right now the pricey electronic item you're holding in your paws or wait three to five days for it to show up on your own doorstep—and pay 20 percent less for it.

Plus, if you like to read consumer reviews before splurging on anything, this free app allows you to look up reviews on the go. But the very best feature is the barcode scanner—hold up your iPhone to any barcode to see its price online. Instantly. A few taps later, and that item is on its way to you.

COUPON SHERPA
I might not be able to stop watching Extreme Couponing (no, really!), but the last thing I want to do is rifle through advertisements I don't care about to look for coupons that might not even be there for things I might not even need. Coupon Sherpa is a free app that gathers hundreds of in-store coupons for everything you can think of, right there on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You can show it on your iPhone while checking out, or, if you prefer the old-fashioned method, email your coupons of choice to yourself (or a friend!) to print out.

Coupon Sherpa also allows you to save your favorite stores or items and gives you the store location closest to you.

STYLEBOOK
Okay, here's where things get slightly ridiculous: Remember the scene in Clueless in which Cher gets dressed with the help of a computer that has logged every item in her closet? This is it: Stylebook is the closet manager of your teenage dreams.

Stylebook lets you add your own clothing using either the camera's phone, importing from iPhoto or pasting from the web. Next, the $1.99 app removes the background images for a seamless method to "layer" your clothing for you. Sort items into categories, create outfits or just browse—there's even a "share" option so you can see whether your friends approve of your latest opus.

Check out this week's featured ad for Arts