Alibaba to roll out screen apparatus to help blind people shop online

Shopping for apparel, groceries, accessories or electronics from the comfort of your couch with just a few clicks is definitely a great feeling. However, the perks of technology that we take for granted are not available to the visually impaired. In an effort to include the blind into its vast customer base, the Chinese e-commerce titan Alibaba has unveiled a screen to help blind individuals use its shopping app. The company has been developing this tech for a couple of years, through its massive R&D initiative and is finally ready to carry out testing. The testing is easier said than done, given the limited number of visually impaired people in China, who have an inclination to use technology in daily life.

Alibaba developed a cheap silicone sheet that goes on the screen, which has three sensory enabled buttons on the sides to trigger common commands such as “previous menu”, “confirm order”, etc. Additionally, it also works when users hold the phone to their ears, letting them listen better when outdoors. Trials have shown a significant reduction in time required for completing an online purchase.

Certain smartphones, such as the iPhone, have a feature that reads out the contents of the screen to the user. The app does make tech accessible to the blind, but when it comes to feature rich apps and e-commerce applications, the sheer amount of information on the screen being read out makes it extremely tough for a blind user to keep up with everything. However, it remains to be seen as to how many blind users would actually use this gadget.