A wide range of companies send information to the MobileCrunch offices, and one came today that made me stop and think, “I wish I would have thought of that.” The idea has been around for a few years but hasn’t made much of a splash in the United States. MobileCrunch first mentioned the idea in October 2006, with the last update coming in May of this year, Pilot Program Launched for French Transit System. The idea is scanning barcodes with your mobile phone camera and the company is Scanbuy.
Barcodes aren’t a new technology. The first barcode patent was granted in 1952. But it took a couple of decades before they became commercially affordable. By the 1980’s barcodes and the scanning equipment that reads them began to take the world by storm. Shipping and retail companies still utilize those ponderous symbols and numbers. With the advent of inexpensive mobile computing and picture taking, the barcode may show up in places that you wouldn’t expect.
The U.S. Air Force is making a 60 city promotional tour this year that uses Scanbuy technology. Barcodes are placed throughout the showcase that visitors can scan. The Air Force then sends text messages, sound, video or games to the scanner’s handset. The marketing potential and cost savings are easy to see.
The military often experiments with cutting-edge technology and new innovations. That whole Internet thing was set up by the Department of Defense in the 1960s. As the costs of technology lower and become available to the public, it is inevitable that the private sector will follow where the government has gone before.
The marketing and information potential of barcodes is only now being tapped into. Unless something else comes along, the future may find us scanning all types of things to get product information, promotional deals, or simple price checks. The way the mobile industry uses the old barcode is only limited by the human imagination.
Scanbuy isn’t the only company that offers this service. It just happened to come to my attention today. But I see the potential that this can bring to consumers, marketers and sellers. This is a service that may become so commonplace; my father will ask me to show him how to use the camera on his mobile phone.
“The idea is scanning barcodes with your mobile phone camera and the company is Scanbuy.”
I am not sure if this is totally true.
I have done a lot of research on this and Neomedia has been doing this for over 10 years.
From what I have researched also, Neomedia has a litigation suit against Scanbuy, BUT, the EFF is pressing the USPTO on the Neomedia patents for the second time after the first failed.
But the thing I find most interesting is that Neomedia allows consumers to click on other things. Which, IMO, is a lot more diverse.
Comment by Diamondback — September 24, 2007 @ 4:47 pm
I don’t see much future in Scanbuy given the already ubiquitous use of mobile QR codes in Japan and Europe.
Chances are your new mobile will come with a QR code reader built-in.
Comment by Kyle Barrow — September 24, 2007 @ 5:00 pm
This article is hilariously sycophantic.
Comment by Jake — September 25, 2007 @ 12:36 am
I agree. Take your ridiculous claims about Scanbuy and the EFF back to Ihub. Maybe the folls at investorshub.com will listen to you there.
Comment by elin — September 25, 2007 @ 3:40 pm
Elin,
I do not mean to put words in his mouth, but, I think Jake is refering to the authors article, not my comment.
You might want to look up sycophantic.
BTW, I have read some of the comments on the ihub board that you mentioned. Some good information can be found there about the mobile industry.
Comment by Diamondback — September 25, 2007 @ 5:03 pm
Isn’t ScanBuy eZCode a little bit similar to the visualCodes 2004 project?
I wonder how a Company can have patents on something LGPL’d, and in the public domain.
http://www.inf.ethz.ch/personal/rohs/visualcodes/
Not to mention QRCodes wich is avaliable since mids ‘90.
Comment by Christian — September 27, 2007 @ 4:33 pm
From what I have learned Neomedia has been around since 95.
When was Scanbuy formed again?
Comment by Diamondback — October 1, 2007 @ 12:01 pm
2000 I found it
Comment by Diamondback — October 1, 2007 @ 12:04 pm
japanese have been scanning 2d barcode with their mobile phone long time ago:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_Code
Comment by dennyhalim — October 3, 2007 @ 11:38 pm
This is true about the Japanese. I have nothing but questions, myself. Care to answer? The QR system seems like it has holes, Why? If it has been around for so long why has it taken so many years to develop “one” reader for all of these types of codes? Could the reader, read more than one thing, besides QR codes? If I am Germany and I want to find a McDonalds nearest to my location, if I have one multifunctional tool on my mobile, why not just enter the keyword? What if I can’t find the QR code? How much endless walking will I need to do? Why can’t I get the same response when I click the Logo. I am not a supporter of Neomedia. Although, I can see so many uses for their technology. I am just another person with questions that seems like no one can answer.
Seems like a Q uick R ecipe for disaster.
Comment by Diamondback — October 4, 2007 @ 6:02 pm