eBay will significantly widen the beta test for San Dimas, its PC application designed to let buyers interact both offline and online with the company's marketplace.
Until now San Dimas has been available to testers selected by eBay, but it can now be downloaded by eBay buyers for use with the U.S. marketplace.
The application, which has been rebaptized eBay Desktop and was built on Adobe Systems' AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) platform, will be shown this week at Adobe's Max 2007 show in Chicago.
With eBay Desktop, the online auction giant hopes to give its buyers a tool that will enhance and simplify their purchasing activities on the marketplace.
As a PC application that works whether or not users are connected to the Internet, eBay Desktop is designed to provide a richer functionality and more customizable experience than are possible with a Web browser.
"The desktop is interesting again, now that you can do things that go beyond what the browser can do, but leveraging the same technology," said Alan Lewis, eBay Desktop product manager.
With eBay Desktop, buyers can do such things as keep logs of their product searches and transactions, as well as receive updates and alerts on auctions they are participating in. They can also set up search feeds and be notified when certain products are available.
The company is counting on eBay Desktop to help it improve the buying experience on the marketplace. The application is one of several efforts to make eBay more appealing to buyers, including an improved search engine, a Facebook application, and a redesigned home page.
The AIR platform, formerly known as Apollo, is designed to let developers use HTML, AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and Flash), Adobe Flash, and Adobe Flex to create desktop applications that perform online operations.
The eBay Desktop application went into "private" beta in June and "a few thousand" testers have been trying it out. It can now be downloaded for free from eBay's Web site.
Get the independent advice and expertise you need to support a virtual workforce.
The increase in Linux popularity has increased the frequency and sophistication of malware attacks. Read this 2 page white paper now to learn how you can protect your Linux environment with real-time protection that is certified by all major Linux vendors.
Download now »
Ensuring acceptable application delivery will become even more difficult over the next few years. As a result, IT organizations need to ensure that the approach that they take to resolving the current application delivery challenges can scale to support the emerging challenges. This handbook elaborates on the key tasks associated with planning, optimization, management and control and provides decision criteria to help IT organizations choose appropriate solutions.
Download now »
A common misconception is that mid-range storage requirements are dramatically different than that of a larger enterprise. Mid-range storage users may require less capacity, but they have similar functionality and management requirements. This ESG paper examines mid-range storage needs and reviews a new solution that adjusts size while retaining value, performance and functionality.
Download now »
Sign up to receive Business Resource Alerts
Recommend This
