One of my favorite business books is The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture by John Battelle. Written in 2005, the Author offers a glimpse into the history of Google along with his vision on the potential and power of search.

One of the coolest examples of Battelle’s vision is that of the smartphone of the future which allows the User to walk into a grocery store and perform visual searches on wine bottles which then serves up product reviews by individuals within their social graph. This action now helps the User make a buying decision based upon trusted recommendations rather than guessing – especially if they are trying something new or are a wine novice in this case. Although there have been a number of attempts to make this vision a reality, I would argue that we just moved one step closer with Amazon’s recent release of Flow (free) which offers the User to perform visual searches / scans on products within their environment.

You’re probably asking why is this app unique as opposed to other applications other there like Google Googles or Red Laser? It’s simple, this app is not only faster and more User friendly, but most importantly, it gives the User access to probably the biggest consumer generated review database in the world. Now I know it’s not giving the User access to reviews within their social graph, but it’s an impressive great first step.

Have you had a chance to check out Flow?

What do you think?

Do you think this app is a disruptor?

Photo courtesy of Osman Kalkavan