Amazon has updated its Amazon Mobile app for iPhone to version 1.2.8. While a minor point update number-wise, the company added a major new feature, the ability to photograph/scan a bar code and do a search of the product you scanned on Amazon.
This is similar to the RedLaser from Occipital, which does bar code searching on a variety of shopping sources. Amazon Mobile’s searching is, of course, limited to Amazon.com.
To use the new feature, hit the Search tab in the app, and then the “Scan a Barcode” button on the search page. Hold your iPhone up to a bar code, like we’ve done in the image below. When the app gets a good look at the barcode, those orange lines automatically turn green and the scan is done. You’re then immediately taken to the results page, which you can see in this case in the other image.
 Scan the Barcode |  See the Results |
Amazon Mobile is a free download, and the new version is available now. It’s a hybrid app, but the new feature clearly requires a camera, and Amazon specifies the new feature is only available on iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS running iOS 4.x or later.