• by January 27, 2005

It seems that Amazon is going local. Today, the world's largest online purveyor of books, music, video, and lots of other stuff is introducing a local Web search service through its A9 subsidiary, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The service will offer maps, images, and other information for restaurants and businesses in 10 cities. Amazon is good at helping people to find things, but it didn't get there on its own. The online retailer uses Google for general Web searches but has been working on supplementing those capabilities with features that enable people to customize their searches.

Amazon is known for greeting returning shoppers with personalized information such as book and music recommendations based on their previous purchases and searches. The Minute has always thought this was a nifty feature.

In debuting a local search capability, Amazon enters a field crowded with big boys: Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft. Of course that's not a reason to sit on the fence. Amazon can add its own twist to local search and reap additional ad revenue in the process.

In addition to offering listings for local businesses, A9's local search service has a "BlockView" feature, according to the Journal, which offers digital images of restaurants and businesses the 10 cities the service covers. Users can view the still images as if they were walking down the street and call individual businesses by clicking on a button. As with Amazon, consumers can also post reviews.

The local search function makes sense for Amazon. One thing that doesn't make as much sense though, is the video shorts it's been hyping on the home page. While they're smart and stylish, the Minute doesn't really understand what they do for Amazon.

There's so darn much to do on Amazon, the reading alone will keep you there for at least 30 minutes, we don't get why film shorts are necessary. Sure, they might keep us there for another 30 minutes, but the home page is busy enough without having to engage in more stimulation. We're not on the site to view video, unless it's music or video clips of something we might want to purchase. In that case, we love the way Amazon makes clips available for sampling; likewise, on many other online music sites.

Seriously, we can think of better branding vehicles for Amazon than film shorts. We already know Amazon is associated with film, books, and artistic endeavors. Amazon: You could have saved some dough.