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Google Catalogs for Android and iOS to be mothballed on August 15th
If window shopping through Google Catalogs is your go-to lunch break pastime, you might want to sit down. Mountain View has proclaimed that the service's Android and iOS apps will no longer be supported when August 15th rolls around. Not all is lost, however, as the search giant will keep the digital product tomes alive online. Although Google Catalogs is meeting its end much like Google Reader did, something tells us we won't see replacements for this particular platform cropping up left and right.
App Store adds new Catalogs top level category
Apple has added a new Catalogs category to the App Store. The news comes via the CEO of Catalog Spree (free), Joaquin Ruiz. The category was showing no entries as of Tuesday night (see screenshot above), so I'd expect to see all of the catalog apps that are sprinkled throughout the App Store moved into this new category on Wednesday. Ruiz had a few comments to make about the appearance of the new category: The impact of the iPad in the shopping and publication industries has been massive. Many thousands of apps have been added over the last 2 years to address the consumers need to interact with their favorite books, magazines and brands within an iPad optimized experience. Catalog Spree has been the leader in the catalog shopping app space since first launched in late April 2011. Until today (the day before the "iPad 3" launch), Catalog Spree and dozens of other shopping entertainment apps have been categorized in the "Lifestyle" category in the Apple App Store. Today, Apple has added a new top level category called "Catalogs" to the App Store. As of yet, there are no listed apps in that category but we expect that to change tomorrow after Apple's "iPad 3" announcement. Adding an app category is not something that Apple does lightly and we believe Apple's decision reflects the importance of this use case in the Apple App Store ecosystem. It will be interesting to see if Apple highlights the new category during the demos later today. Be sure to join our liveblog beginning at 9:45 AM PT (12:45 PM ET) today.
Google Catalogs iPad app digitizes catalogs, no more coasters
We all know what catalogs are good for: starting fires in the fireplace, light reading in waiting rooms and makeshift placemats. Oddly, Google has decided to take these perfectly useful glossy dead trees away from us with the introduction of Google Catalogs, a free iPad app. Like most shopping apps, users can zoom in, learn more and purchase products through a company's website, but this one adds a slick little twist: collages. Put together a particularly sweet L.L. Bean ensemble and want to share it with Mom? No glue stick or scissors required. Check out the video after the break.
