Purch Launches Mobile Comparison Shopping App, Purchx

[FritzEiv]

Tom's Hardware's parent company, Purch, released Purchx, a mobile shopping comparison app. It's available on iOS now, Android soon.

Purch Launches Mobile Comparison Shopping App, Purchx : Read more

 

[RedJaron]

Any plans for a Windows Phone version?

 

[uglyduckling81]

Well this is just a blatant advert. Like an infomercial. Disguising itself as a news article.
Has no relevance to Tom's Hardware. Are articles at Tom's Hardware just advertising pieces?

 

[Titillating]

No relevance to Tom's Hardware? TH is owned by Purch. Purch is the publisher of the Purchx app. Purchx will, in the near future, list and include products covered by Tom's Hardware's editorial team. Seems relevant enough to me.

 

[rubix_1011]

I think that certainly ticks all the boxes of criticism and wild speculation.

If you own the site and the IP, you certainly can post what you want or advertise/spread the word about one on the other.

 

[uglyduckling81]

McDonalds owns a whole heap of food chains including Chipotle Mexican Grill. You don't see McDonalds Menu billboards up at any of the restaurants they own except at McDonalds Restaurants.
Just because you buy out another company doesn't mean you have to bastardise it to gain traction for the parent company. You buy it as an alternative source of income.
A more appropriate place for this article would of been a link in a banner AD rather than disguising it as a new article.

 

[Titillating]

Being a majority stakeholder in a company is different from owning it. McDonald's did not own Chipotle, and they sold all their stocks in Chipotle over 10 years ago. Plus, it's comparing apples to oranges (two fast food chains targeting different audiences vs. two online entities targeting the same audience).

Will also point out that companies are routinely bought out and "bastardized" to gain traction for the parent company. Android was bought up by Google and has been used as a platform to push a variety of Google services and products ever since. Apple recently bought out a mapping company, and they will use that software in their future phones. Microsoft picked up Nokia because they couldn't manufacture a decent phone to push their Windows Phone OS with. Are all of these acquisitions used as an alternative source of income? Yes and no, since they were acquired to bolster the parent company's existing offerings, though one could argue that the Android platform has since grown past that point into an entity of its own.

Personally, I would imagine that a brief news article that isn't exactly intrusive would a better alternative than forcing a banner ad on people. Not exactly sure how it's being disguised either. It's not like it was titled in a way that was misleading.

 

[uglyduckling81]

Chipolte was just an example, they own many other franchises which do not advertise McDonalds.
I'm not saying using a subsidiary to push your agenda doesn't happen, I'm saying it's poor form and lowers the quality of the subsidiary company's image. I'm asking Tom's to not go down this road.
A shopping app has no relevance to a technical computer hardware site just because it may have computers as one of the products being sold. This is not news in any sense of the word, this is just an an advertisement.
It would be like if GM bought Tom's and started advertising new models or features of their cars and we called it relevant because computer hardware is delivered and transported by motor vehicles.
Next we will get an in depth run down of all the shopping categories of this shopping app under the review section.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Nobody forced you to read the article. If it was a banner ad, somebody would be looking at it through no choice of their own. I think it's done right.

 

[Titillating]

I think the doomsday forecast is a little premature. And I believe we've already addressed the issue of relevance.

In the end, it comes down to this: this was a brief, unassuming article announcing the launch of an app that wants to provide users with a platform to share customer reviews and compare items they are interested in purchasing. This, like all apps, will appeal to certain people while others will not find a use for it. You, uglyduckling81, clearly fall into the latter group; RedJaron, who asked about a Windows Phone version, likely falls into the former. The app is free, it is optional, and this article explicitly uses the electronics category as an example because that is our audience, while also clearly pointing out that it is not yet up to par with enthusiast standards.

Believe it or not, people do come to Tom's Hardware to make purchasing decisions. It's part of why reviews are a popular feature and why there are so many forum threads asking for purchasing advice. The app provides an alternate means to get that advice. I like to think of it as an optional, free supplemental resource being offered.

 

[uglyduckling81]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/collection/topselling_new_free?hl=en

Here is a list of top new apps available for Android. Perhaps Tom's should do 'articles' about all of them?
Or perhaps if we want to know about Apps we can go to a relevant App site and learn about good ones.
Then we can come back to Tom's HARDWARE to learn about hardware developments.
This site is not a jack of all trades, it is a hardware site and it should keep doing what it is good at. Not water down the quality of the site for the sake of it's parent company.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Thinks that don't change and adapt, die. That's all there is to it.

 

[Titillating]

We COULD do articles about all of them. We do cover apps that are pertinent to our users. Just because they are "top apps" does not mean they are relevant. The issue of relevance, once again, one that you continually bring up and then ignore when it suits your argument.

Look, clearly you have your opinion on this, which is totally fine. You're entitled to your opinions. I fail to see how any of our content is "watered down", but if that's what you think, great. Ultimately, neither of our opinions matter because we don't decide what gets published. Tom's has long since evolved past the point where it only covers hardware.

You don't like the app, fine. Nobody is shoving it down your throat. At this point, you're just looking to start arguments and the continuation of this conversation benefits nobody. If you wish to complain about the type of content being published on Tom's, feel free to email the editorial team on the matter.