Survive an earthquake with Tesco Finder

A techfortesco reader has just alerted me to a very interesting article from a geography teacher's blog that is introducing Tesco Finder for iPhone/iPod Touch into geography lessons as part of an earthquake survival kit.

Chris Green, Head of Geography at a west midlands secondary school, has created the lessons to teach his pupils how to plan and execute a disaster preparedness kit on a fixed budget.

http://geographyipods.blogspot.com/2010/09/earthquake-survival-kit-on-budget.html

Some text snipped from the article:

Pupils are given a budget of £250 and asked to create an earthquake survival kit suitable for their family based at their current address (we need to be prepared in the West Midlands!! - read this article from Wired). Following the teacher introduction using the resources above, pupils use their knowledge of short and long term effects and generate a 'real' shopping list on their ipods using the apps below.

The Tesco Finder app allows pupils to search for products in their nearest store, make decisions about the price, add to a shopping basket (named by them) and generate a sub total.

They can use the maps app to plan a route from their house to the store (extension task).

It's great to see teachers using innovative ideas to teach kids, and here in Tesco.com R&D we're really chuffed that Mr. Green has chosen one of our apps to help him in his work.

Multiple mobile users can add to the same Tesco.com grocery order

A great question has come from @sitereport on Twitter:

Can multiple iPhone users add items to the same order?

Technically, as long as the users are logged in to the same account, then yes you can add to the same order (or change quantities or remove the item).

Indeed, this can be a mix of anyone on the iPhone app, the Nokia app, and the web site - each keeps the others up to date.

I say 'technically' because if someone checks out an order, the basket is emptied ready for the next order and other users on the same account are not alerted to this unless they tap the 'basket' button which causes the app to ask our servers what the current basket status is.

Always check the basket contents regularly before adding items if you know someone else is likely to be doing the same thing.

Tesco Groceries app for iPhone / iPod Touch - Walkthrough

Let's take a walkthrough of the Tesco Groceries app for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad (the latter running in "iPhone mode").

Here is the opening screen (when you first use the app, you will be asked to tap in your Tesco.com grocery login email and password). You can choose a delivery slot, and see when the next order is due (which you can amend if you wish):

The Shopping List is your own memo pad, allowing you to type any product name in free-form text, perfect for remembering items quickly as you think of them. You could easily use the app in any shop as an electronic version of a written list, or tap the text to perform a live product search at Tesco so we can entice you with great prices and special offers:

Tapping the square next to the item makes a "tick" appear, just as you would tick a paper list as you choose products:

If you're like me, then the first place to go when putting together an order is to use the Favourites list. When you registered your account and used a Clubcard, your Favourites list stores all the items you have previously purchased online and in-store. 

You can also filter your favourites to view just those on special offer.

In the example below, notice that one of the products has a green background - this means that product is already in your basket. All searches showing products in your basket will be highlighted this way so you can change the quantity or even remove them if you wish.

Here is the 'shop' screen. Either type in some text to find the product you are looking for, or follow the department - aisle - shelf hierarchy to browse for products:

Here is an example text search for chips. Again we highlight products on special offer:

Finally here is the basket. From here you tap the checkout button which will cause the app to start the iPhone's Safari browser which will connect into a checkout special page designed for iPhone on the Tesco.com grocery web site. If you are called Paolo then your delicious chips and beer diet will soon be on its way. For everyone else, at least you'll get the entire grocery range to choose from - on average that's more than 20,000 products. Healthier products are available...!

So there you are - our new little app for iPhone giving you personal, pocketable access to our complete grocery home shopping service. It's taken a year of planning, design, coding and testing by a fantastic team across Tesco.com and our mobile design and development partner Ribot.

Now it's yours. Enjoy!

Tesco Groceries app for iPhone now live in iTunes App Store

Here it is:

Tesco.com's grocery heart and soul in a little app.

This changes everything. Again.

("Again", because we launched on Nokia first!)

Tesco and Ribot present this powerful pocket of grocery home shopping to you now. We simply call it Tesco Groceries which says so much in so few words.

Oh, the decisiveness of purpose, passion for excellence and focus of hard work by so many people for a year to give birth to this little bundle of joy, the love child of Tesco.com and Ribot our mobile design and development partner....*

If you have iTunes on your computer, iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, follow this link:

http://itunes.com/apps/TescoGroceries

Walkthrough follows in the next article.


* Yes of course I'm sounding O.T.T. - this has been the centre of my working life for over a year now, so indulge me. Ribot have put their all into this little app and I salute them. Normal service will be resumed after a celebratory drink or two tonight methinks! What on earth shall I do tomorrow?! Oh yes, a Tesco presence on other smart-phone operating systems to come, especially now I've fallen back in love with my Nexus One again after its upgrade to Android 2.2. Anyway...