Seattle - Online retail giant Amazon.com (NASD: AMZN) on Wednesday announced the launch of a new feature that lets consumers use text messages to find and buy products. "With TextBuyIt, if you're walking out of a concert and want to buy a CD from the artist you just saw, or if you're at dinner and a friend tells you about a great book you should read, all you have to do is get out your mobile device, send a text message to Amazon, reply to the response, confirm your order, and your item will be on its way," said Howard Gefen, director of Amazon Mobile Payments.

Users send a text message to "AMAZON" (262966) with the name of a product, search term, or UPC or ISBN code; Amazon then replies with a list of items matching the search query, each with a unique item number.

The user texts the number corresponding to the desired item, which Amazon follows up with a short automated phone call with final details, and asks the user to confirm or cancel the purchase.

The launch of TextBuyIt follows Amazon's rollout of an iPhone-optimized version of its site last fall.

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