As noted on the eBay Inc. blog, eBay Thursday it has released updates to its iPhone and iPad apps, as the company continues to take the best of its desktop experiences and bring them to mobile.
New features within the updated apps include the introduction of multiple search views so iPhone app users can see search results in table, grid or tile view, and an iPad and iPhone-accessible Shopping Cart. Previously only available on desktop and Android, the new Shopping Cart functionality helps U.S. and UK users buy items from multiple sellers with a single payment and delivers on eBay’s promise of an intuitive and consistent buying experience.
“We want to provide seamless shopping experiences across all kinds of devices and platforms. It’s what our most engaged customers want from eBay,” said Kevin Hurst, VP of Mobile Products. “With the Shopping Cart now available on desktop, Android, iPhone and iPad, consumers can start shopping on one screen and easily finish on another.”
Other features included as part of the iPhone 3.0 and iPad 2.3 updates are an improved user interface (in particular, the iPad gets a more customizable home screen), new photo editing tools for the iPad-version of the app and driver license scanning technology — to help sign up new users in most states — for the iPhone version. All features are meant to ensure a consistent experience, no matter where a user interacts with eBay.
The app updates speak to eBay’s determination to make every screen shoppable and is the next logical step in improving the pace of mobile innovation at eBay. The company’s last significant mobile update — introducing the ability to start a listing on a smartphone or tablet and finishing on the web, and vice versa — was introduced in January and has already helped increase first-time listing on the site by 67 percent.
A fact sheet on the updated apps is available here.