Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Compare Prices With Cell Phone


ScanBuy does it again. These guys are doing a terrific job of exposing the physical world connection. It also appears the service providers are starting to listen too.

This story was on my local NBC news last night.

Oliver Attia is the CEO of Scan-Buy , which offers software that you can download to a cell phone that has a camera.

When you are shopping, you just line up your camera with the bar code and Scan-Buy almost instantly gives you a product description and customer ratings, and you can compare the price you see on the shelves with the prices available from e-tailers.

If you want the item you see listed online, one-click buying is possible from your phone.

Attia said Verizon and Sprint are in discussions with the company.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's "nice" of ScanBuy to do the "heavy lifting" in educating the market as to the possibilities (which go well-beyond their simple comparison pricing) - they apparently don't even own the IP for this - so it's for the benefit of the company that DOES own the IP. Just a matter of time before ScanBuy either has to license this IP from another co, or cease, IMO.

No Name said...

Or finds a way around it.

Anonymous said...

Virgin has a lot more money than Scanbuy, and apparently, they couldn't find a way around...fwiw

Anonymous said...

I believe thats a mis-conception... Virgin did not look for a workaround (others will)... why fight when you're offered 'free' access/usage.

Anonymous said...

to the prior poster; not the case at all; not free. (re: "free access").

Anonymous said...

Have you any ideas on how they could find a way around it?

Anonymous said...

I understand that Scanbuy is being sued for patent infringement. Any updates on that front? Your comment leads one to think that they may have found a work around the patents. Also, I understand there are more companies that do this, but Scanbuy seems to get the most publicity. Why do you think this is the case? Better PR, or better product?

Anonymous said...

Please note that I placed free in quotations... take a look at the financials released thus far (regarding settlement)and let me know what you would call it.

Anonymous said...

(I don't consider a six figure settlement "free")

IMO ScanBuy can spin their wheels trying to get around some IP, but will be a waste of time.

Anonymous said...

(I don't consider a six figure settlement "free")

IMO ScanBuy can spin their wheels trying to get around some IP, but will be a waste of time.

Anonymous said...

It doesn't matter if Scanbuy owns the IP or not, if they have to lisence it or not. What matters is Scanbuy is getting their name out to the public for this product so when the time comes for an IPO they would have already built a following and will have name recognition which is what you want so your share price will rise.

Sometimes you don't need all your ducks in a row before you hit the market with your product. Sometimes you just need to put what you have out there and improve upon it as the public is using it and becoming familiar with it.

If Microsoft waited for their product to be perfect before launching it they would have never gone into business. You can apply this same principal to any business.

Scanbuy has better PR, smarter business sense, and the ambition to get themselves known.

Anonymous said...

If you want an example of a company with IP for a new and revolutionary product research Digital Recording and see what happened to them. Then you will see how easy it is to get around any IP if you put your money and your efforts toward that end.