Tip! Another fear of carrying mobile phones is the risk it generates while driving. It has been proven that a driver on a mobile phone is far less attentive and is more prone to accidents than a driver without a cell phone.

When you're browsing in a bookshop, do you ever wonder: "Is it cheaper on Amazon? Does Amazon have that edition in stock?" This is the Amazon Dilemma The past year has seen a new breed of websites that have arrived to help consumers address this problem and find the best price and availability, whilst on the move, for the price of a text or phonecall.

The first is a US site, www.ringfo.com, which allows mobile phone owners to call a dedicated phone number and enter, via the phone's keypad, a code found on the bar code of the book (International Standard Book Number or ISBN). A computer-generated voice then reads the current price and customer reviews at amazon.com.

British site www.SMSprice.co.uk relies on SMS text messages to communicate with consumers, this time the ISBN code is sent by SMS and a reply is sent straight back containing the price and availability, from Amazon's UK site.

Finally Australians are catered for by Buymate, which will return prices from a number of Australian stores.

These are examples of how access to Internet information on-the-move helps the consumer make an informed choice in-store. The reason these work as on-the-go services is that the timeliness of the information is key. The consumer needs to know the on-line price and availability while they are still shopping; waiting until they next access a computer is too late if the in-store offer proves the better deal. .

Tip! The latest deals on contract mobile phones have become quite attractive with time. First of all, these are devised on sophisticated handsets, which are popular among phone users.

It is interesting to note that these sites do not use WAP or 3G Internet technologies but make use of technologies that larger sections of the population are familiar with, text messaging, or in the US where text messaging is not so prevalent, touch tone phones. Both allow a simple interface and the number can be stored in the phone's phonebook for easy retrieval.

These services have been made possible by Amazon's open approach to their data. In July 2002 Amazon made their data available to independent developers, allowing them to query the Amazon database from their websites and applications. This is a classic win win situation: independent websites can integrate extra content to their sites; meanwhile Amazon's army of developers (over 140,000 according to their website) create new ways to present Amazon's data, ultimately drawing more people to the products.

All this means that consumers have access to innovative new services, like Ringfo and SMSprice, designed to help them save money.

Paul Chandler is owner of http://www.SMSprice.co.uk a site using SMS text messaging to provide you with instant real-time Amazon prices wherever you are.

Mobile Phones: The Amazon Dilemma Solved