Disqus
There’s a side of Motorola that you may not have known about – the side that has little to do with mobile phones and invests in other companies. That side of Motorola’s business has just invested in Scanbuy, a mobile barcode scanning app maker. Motorola apparently has high regards for Scanbuy’s “ScanLife” platform, which gives mobile advertisers a way to deliver ads and content to users who scan certain barcodes on everyday objects like magazines or retail packages.
Here’s how it works – businesses use ScanLife to create custom 1D or 2D barcodes on their products. Customers can then use ScanLife their smartphones to take pictures of barcodes with their phone’s camera. Within moments, the ScanLife app can deliver product reviews, price comparisons and coupon offers based on the barcode that was just scanned.
Mobile barcode scanners are becoming an essential part of the shopping experience. If you’re savvy enough to have a smartphone, then you’re probably savvy enough to have installed at least one mobile barcode scanning app. In fact, Sony Ericsson is pre-loading ScanLife on their phones. With ScanLife apps already available for iPhone OS, Android OS, BlackBerry OS, Symbian OS, and Java, there’s a good chance that the next retail store you visit will have some smartphone user checking prices using one of Scanbuy’s apps. Hell, if Google’s doing it, there’s a good chance mobile barcodes have a future.
[Via: CN]
About The Author
Will Park
Will hails from The City of Angels - Los Angeles, California. He spends his time playing with his numerous gadgets and looking forward to seeing what future holds for mobile technology. An avid promoter of a fully "digital" life, he promotes the widespread adoption of truly mobile, paper-less living. He dreams of the day when he can go completely digital. No more snail mail, paper receipts, bound books, notepads/spiral notebooks, credit cards, hard currency. He's a digital warrior - fighting for the converged life. He is an idealist and a realist - he has a perfect view of what the world should be but knows that the world is not perfect. Can we ever hope to see Will's dream become reality? We'll see...
