5 Handy iPhone Apps to Download For Holiday Shopping

With Thanksgiving one week away, we are all looking forward to spending some time with our families and extending our gratitude for what we are thankful for. Once we are all stuffed with delicious turkey and stuffing, it's time to take an 8 hour nap and prepare for what lies ahead. You guessed it, the dreaded Black Friday. Black Friday is the busiest shopping day of the year. It consists of thousands of shoppers standing outside of a Walmart or Best Buy for seven hours to get a 50" plasma TV for $300. For those of you who enjoy getting huge discounts on the latest technology, I have compiled a list of my top 5 iPhone apps for the holidays that will help make your shopping a little easier.

#1 - RedLaser ($1.99)
RedLaser is an impossibly accurate barcode scanning app.
It searches for low online prices from thousands of retailers using Google Product Search, Amazon, and more. RedLaser allows faster scanning by bypassing the use of AutoFocus. It uses state-of-the-art barcode recognition that can read virtually any product barcode.
This app is currently the #4 Top Grossing app in the iPhone's store. This is an app that pays for itself after one use. Phenomenal technology and a fantastic buy at $1.99.

#2 - AroundMe (FREE)
AroundMe allows you to quickly find out information about your surroundings.
How many times have you found yourself in need of finding the closest gas station? AroundMe quickly identifies your position and allows you to choose the nearest bank, bar, gas station, hospital, hotel, movie theatre, restaurant, supermarket, and taxi. AroundMe shows you a complete list of all the businesses in the category you have tapped on along with the distance from where you are.
For every listing, you can choose to see its location on a map, view the route from where you are, add the information to your contact list, or even email the information to a friend. The nearby listing allows you to find information using Wikipedia about what is around you.
You can't beat this app for the price!

#3 - Shopper ($0.99)
Making and sharing a shopping list has never been easier or more convenient.
With Shopper, you create and add to your shopping list whenever you think of things you need to buy. Type in the names of items, take a photo of them, or pick from the large list of shopping items that comes built-in. Sync your list with other Shopper users and they can always view your up-to-date list! Your entire family’s needs are with you whenever you need it.
When you’re shopping, check off the items as you go. Your shopping list is with you all the time!
This seems to make life a whole lot easier and the $0.99 price tag is quite miniscule considering you are saving yourself money every time you use it.

#4 - MapQuest 4 Mobile (FREE)
Everyone is familiar with MapQuest. This is just a hand-held version. With this mobile app, you can save maps and routes on mapquest.com and retrieve them on your iPhone. The new MapQuest Place Carousel allows you to easily display locations for hotels, movie theatres, gas stations, and more with a single tap. The "Find Me" feature utilizes iPhone GPS to plot your approximate location on a map. This app also contains walking directions so you can find your on foot destination directly by utilizing pedestrian walkways.
While I realize that the iPhone has its own built-in GPS, this app seems very helpful in finding locations of various points on a nearby map. The walking feature is really cool, plus its free!

#5 - Urbanspoon (FREE)
Because everyone has to eat, right? During your shopping adventure, take some time and enjoy a nice meal. If you can't decide on a place to eat or don't know where anything is, that's where Urbanspoon comes in handy. With a simple flick of the wrist, the Urbanspoon app will take your location, randomly mix in a genre of food, and a random pricing and it will suggest a place nearby for you to dine. It's as easy as pie!