Having found one third-party "Wishlist Buddy" taken out of action by changes to Amazon's API, it is clear to me why it's unlikely that such an app will return. The wishlist function by itself encourages people to (a) return to the Amazon site and (b) direct them to the products they want to buy. If you are on their site, Amazon makes money: you're more likely to buy similar products, buy on impulse, share links or click through ads. If you're not on their site, Amazon would be losing money on informing you that individual products you have opted to track are being discounted.
Opt-in tracking is a strong indicator of demand, which means you're more than likely to buy eventually. Ironically, retailers will fight left, right and centre for ad space to tell you their sale is happening, but again such marketing is "loss leader" to get you in the store to browse and impulse purchase, not to mention a way to clear stock. Assume Amazon has infinite storage.
It's a shame. And I think all consumers would benefit if they knew the potential behind this. As a consumer, I still have a list of what I want and a price I would be willing to buy at. Having a Wishlist alert is probably not going to make me wait for lower and lower prices... or is it? Risk comes into play here - how risk averse an individual are you? If I'm willing to take a risk, I would interpret a price drop as a market signal, indicative of further price drops to come. The Wishlist alert would help me prioritise those items with prices dropping. If I'm risk averse, and a price drop brings a product to within my target price, I will proceed to purchase straight away.
An extension of this is that I think there is a business model for a Wishlist Alert subscription. In the same way, London restaurant-goers will subscribe to Tastecard (lump-sum for annual discounts), surely Amazon should be offering a similar model - pay a lump-sum fee for Wishlist Alerts i.e. a tool to maximise discounts down the line?
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