A9.com, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, has purchased SnapTell, a startup that offers users a way to search for product information from their mobile phones. Its free iPhone and Android apps let lets users take a photo of the cover of any CD, DVD, book, or video game, and the technology will automatically identify the product and find ratings and pricing information online from Google, Amazon, and more. SnapTell has a database of about 5 million+ products. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

(www.amazon.com, www.A9.com, www.snaptell.com)