Android app for Google Offers

 

Google announcing their new Google Offers mobile app, that allows you to discover, buy and redeem your favorite deals on the go. The free app will notify you about all the great Offers that match your interests. You can purchase offers in just a few clicks and even redeem paperlessly with select merchants.

 

Check out today’s deal from REI on the Google Offers app: $15 for $25 to spend on gear at the national outdoor retailer.


Visit Android Market to download the app and check out www.google.com/offers to learn more about Google Offers.

The Google Offers mobile app is only available in the US.

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New Google Shopper 1.5 for iPhone

We’ve recently made a few new changes to Google Shopper for iPhone that makes it easy to find nearby deals when you’re on-the-go.

In the latest version of Google Shopper, in addition to the ‘Shop’ tab, you’ll now see two new tabs at the bottom of the app: Offers and My Offers. The Offers tab displays a list, or map view, of nearby offers which businesses have submitted through Google Places – from restaurant and movie theater deals to discounts on tennis lessons or a round of golf.

Let’s say you come across an offer for free dessert at a nearby restaurant, but you won’t have time to use it until the weekend. You can save the offer for future use, then later view and redeem it from the My Offers tab.

Additionally, if Google Offers are available in your city, you’ll be able to view and redeem your purchased offers on the My Offers tab. Google Offers are currently available in Portland, Oregon, the San Francisco Bay Area and New York, with other cities to follow.
Google Shopper 1.5 is currently available for iPhone users in the US and UK with iOS 4.0 and higher. If you’re a current Google Shopper user, you’ll automatically receive an update. Download Google Shopper 1.5 by visiting the App Store. To download Google Shopper for Android, visit Android Market.

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Great deals with Google Shopper 2.0

 

Today we’re announcing a new set of features in Google Shopper for Android to make it even easier to research products and find great value deals when you’re on-the-go.

First, we’ve moved features around a bit to help you perform common tasks more quickly. For example, the ‘Starred’ and ‘History’ buttons are now at the top of the page. We’ve also added new tabs to the bottom of the screen for fast navigation to Google Shopper’s newest features.

With Google Shopper, you can now find, save and redeem offers at nearby businesses through three tabs:

  • Today’s Offer: part of the Google Offers beta program, this tab displays a single offer for discounted goods or services in your area. Today’s Offer is currently available in Portland, Oregon, the San Francisco Bay Area and New York, with other cities to follow.
  • Nearby Offers: when you click this tab, you’ll see offers in the ‘Eat’ and ‘Play’ categories which nearby businesses have submitted through Google Places.
  • My Offers: for those of us who occasionally misplace coupons or gloss over expiration dates, Google Shopper makes it easy to stay organized. When you come across an offer you like you can save it for later. Your saved and purchased offers appear on this tab and you can see which offers are close to expiring. To take advantage of an offer, just navigate to ‘My Offers,’ select the one you’d like, and click ‘Redeem’. In the future you’ll also be able to access and redeem your saved offers using Google Wallet.
Tap on Today’s Offer, Nearby Offers or My Offers to see great deals.

Visit Android Market to download Google Shopper 2.0, currently available for Android 2.1 and higher devices in the US and UK. If you already have the app installed you’ll automatically receive a notification to update it.

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Google: Coupons in Adwords

@Webmanagementus of Web Management pointed out this Tracfone Adwords ad that includes a Coupon attached to the ad. I had not seen this previously although Greg Sterling had reported on seeing them in the wild on SEL last week. It clearly indicates Google’s desire to expand the roll of coupons as a revenue generator. It is an obvious fit for local for both Boost and Adwords with location extensions although this current test is obviously neither:


 


 
Coupons have had a long a tortuous life at Google. They were introduced in late 2006 and but left to languish for a number of years before seeing some activity in late 2009 and through 2010 with the Tags Beta. 2010 culminated with the failed effort to purchase Groupon.

2011 on the other hand has seen lots of other activity on the coupon front for Google. Besides the new Adwords coupon test first seen last week, rumors of Google Offers, their Groupon competitor, first surfaced in January, with a full blown Offers beta rolling out June 1 in Portland. Google also first rolled out Latitude Check-In Offers at SXSW in March with a limited national test in April. They cancelled the Tags product in April as well. Roll out early, iterate often and shit can anything that doesn’t generate enough profit seems to be the coupon approach.

Here is a chart of Google’s current free, paid and cancelled products…

Type Coupon First Seen In Wild
Places – Free Places Offers 07/2006
7-Pack Tags Coupon Tags Test Cancelled 2/2010 - 4/2011
Latitude -Location Based Check In Offers – Test 3/2011
Adwords -Ad Based Pay Per Coupon – Test 6/13/2011
Daily Deal Deal Offers – Portland Beta 6/1/2011

Much like the trend on Places for links on Google to head off to other Google properties, this new product takes you to a Google page.

When the View Offer button is selected in the newest Adwords coupon test, it takes you to Google.com/Coupons that either prints or saves the coupon for later use to your My Offers area, the same UI used to save Google daily deal Offers and (I assume ) for Latitude Check-Ins.

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Google Maps & Places Tidbits

Google Maps Enhances Interface

Yam Regev pointed out that Google Maps has upgraded the UI twith a stacked image and a fluid visual roll over that highlights the listing the pin highlights on the Map:

New Maps Visual Interface

Offers Tab Removed WorldWide

The Offers tab has been removed from Places for every country outside of the US. One can only speculate the reason but I assume that it portends an upgrade to their Offers product line. If you have created a free Places coupon in the UK the only way to currently access or edit the coupon is to change the country flag in the drop down.

Offers tab removed

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