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New York, NY—Lazare Kaplan International Inc. (LKI), has launched The Lazare Diamond 4C’s app for iPhone and iPad. The app, designed specifically as an interactive and educational guide to purchasing diamonds, is free to download in iTunes and is a is a hands-on tutorial that uses interactive screens, videos and side-by-side comparison to demonstrate the 4C’s and help demystify diamonds for consumers, retailers, or even suppliers.

LKI chairman Maurice Tempelsman is proud that the firm—the first to cut diamonds to ideal proportions, the first to laser inscribe, and the first to brand a diamond—now is the first diamond sightholder to create a 4C’s app for the iPhone and iPad.

“This industry has unique traditions worth preserving, but it is very slow to change in a rapidly changing world. It’s an ongoing struggle for many companies to maintain profitability, and many fear that Internet [diamond] sales will drive them under. We believe that you have to make change your friend, that technology can’t be viewed as a threat, it has to be used as a tool to add capacity to compete in a changing world,” he said.

Lazare Kaplan's new interactive iPad app, left, shows users how different carat weights look on the hand. At right, the color segment shows how color grades translate visually. The app colors were carefully calibrated to match a master grading set. At the top of the page, the app shows clearly what the differences are in clarity grades.

The app also includes a geographic locator for consumers to identify the closest Lazare Diamond retailer. LKI is not selling direct; its goal is to drive traffic to its retail customers’ stores. “Social media platforms have opened a new avenue for us to interact with our customers and work with them to grow consumer traffic in their stores,” said Marcee Feinberg, LKI vice president of marketing.

A video interview with Tempelsman can be viewed here, and click here for a demonstration of the new app with LKI senior vice president Charlie Rosario.