Swisscom Mobile Offers Bar Code Scanning

It is nice to see a wireless carrier, instead of a brand or a mobile marketing agency, offer a barcode scanning application. How long before we see other carriers tap into this revolutionary technology.

Swisscom Mobile is offering Mobile Tagging to their customers.

What is "mobile tagging"?

This is the name of the new technology that provides direct access to content such as games, music, videos and websites over the mobile phone by scanning a bar code.

Content is accessed by photographing tags (barcodes) using a mobile phone camera. I call it "physical world connection".

Just download the software to your mobile phone, photograph the tag with your mobile phone camera and, depending on the content, view, listen to or read the media file.

The tags can be photographed directly from the newspaper or the PC screen. All you need is a mobile phone with integrated camera and Kaywa software, which you can download free of charge.


What does this data matrix code say? :)

Generate your own tags here

Great find by Mobile Barcode

Cellfire Provides Mobile Coupons For Conde Nast

Conde Nast Publications has begun offering subscriptions to six of its magazines via a mobile service that lets people buy through their cellphones.

Members of the Cellfire free mobile coupon service can now use Cellfire to buy discounted subscriptions to Glamour, Allure, Wired, Teen Vogue, Details and Vanity Fair.

Cellfire showed a bit more energy. "We are excited about our partnership with Conde Nast," said Brent Dusing, CEO. "This will allow Cellfire users to get great deals on fantastic publications simply using their mobile phone."

Users can click on the offer they want, showing retailers the coupon code that appears or, now, pushing a magazine subscription through using just their phone.

UpCode Connects A Camera Phone And The Physical World

Add UpCode to the physical world connection list.

UpCode™ is revolutionary and interactive. It is an optical code reader that uses mobile phones/devices to add any electronic information or system to printed product



UpCode Solutions Ltd. is a marketing company specialising in mobile marketing applications and concepts. UpCode marketing concepts are based on the UpCode™ technology.


Now everybody can have their own UpCode. Order Your code and we will connect it to Your wap site. Now Your friends and family will have easy access to Your site where ever they are.

Nice find Semapedia

2d Codes Offer More Than Just Another Dimension

Will the 1d code (barcode) and applications for it, become extinct?

One industry is adopting 2d codes because of improved density, and another (mobile marketing) is adopting them because of camera phone limitations.

From Yahoo News Info needs and legislative drivers propel 2d code adoption in North America

The increasing numbers of trade partners within supply chains that usually tend to be geographically disconnected is heightening the requirement for enhanced information flow to accompany individual items during transit.

This need for improved data density capability is compelling verticals to naturally progress from one-dimensional (1D) barcode scanners to two-dimensional (2D) scanners, since they are inherently portable and have data-dense symbologies.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.autoID.frost.com ), Migration of 1D to 2D Barcode Scanners Market in North America, reveals that the market expects to earn revenues of $968.2 million in 2012.

BeeTagg Connects The Physical World For eBay

What I see happening is some PWC companies are using PWC for advertising, while others are utilizing a 2d code and a camera phone as a tool.

A "chicken and the egg" situation is here. Will physical world connection get adopted by people because they want ads, or because they want to use their camera phone as a tool?

Google first built a tool, and then advertisers followed.

We have already seen Amazon introduce Amazon Scan Search, now eBay is recognizing the value of a 2d code, a camera phone and physical world connection.

One of the physical world connection players, BeeTagg , has created a useful application for major ecommerce company eBay.

By adding a unique 2d code to any object and scanning with a camera phone , BeeTagg allows users to link physical objects to the Internet and eBay.

BeeTagg for eBay


The full story (in German)

In my opinion this application has, or will have, a lot more value than a price comparison tool. Instead of building a physical world connection platform for mobile marketing, they are building an ecommerce platform.

BeeTagg, and a couple other PWC cos are letting users create their own codes and determine what THEY want to use them for. Even Microsoft with their latest 2d code launch recognize that you must let people create useful applications for physical world connection.

I see Google will have to offer a 2d code tool soon.

The Internet Of Things...The Best Is Yet To Come

The Age has a great story about the "Internet of Things", or I like to call it Physical World Connection. It has been referred to as "Phase 2" of the Internet also.

Phase 2 will be infinitely larger than Phase 1 and some of these companies will make it possible.

This "internet of things" was the Supranet, where the physical world and the networked world would merge into one, and the internet would permeate our daily lives.

It is starting to happen. Already there are more devices, mobile phones mostly, attached to the internet than there are computers. And, increasingly, "things" are being connected.

As American futurist Roy Amara said, "We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run." Things take longer to happen than we expect, but when they do happen it's in a bigger way than we thought possible.

I usually say, the longer it takes for a new technology to get adopted, the bigger impact it usually has.

It is not fully appreciated just how big an effect bar codes have had on the retail industry in the past 20 years. RFID will do even more.

Microsoft's Windows Live Barcode Disrupts PWC Space

This is probably one of the biggest, if not THE biggest, news stories for the physical world connection industry.

Companies in the physical world connection space should take this launch seriously.
Microsoft is saying, "we want to be the key player in the 2d code scanning space".

It is my opinion, that Google must introduce a 2d code scanning application and 2d creation application quickly to keep their lead.

2d codes will be more valuable than keywords in the physical world.


From MS Tech Today Windows Live Barcode launches

“Windows Live Barcode is a set of services that transfer information between various media (PCs, billboards, magazines etc.) and handsets via Quick Response Code (QR Code), a two-dimensional barcode.

Install decoder software on handsets and capture QR Code via a built-in camera.

The QR Code is a two-dimensional barcode. It contains a considerably greater volume of information in both vertical and horizontal directions than typical barcode in one dimension

It provides a new method for people to exchange information and enjoy various online services on handsets. Windows Live Barcode aims to enhance handset utility and provide you with more convenience and flexibility.”


Find it time consuming to input long phrases on a handset's tiny keyboard? Want to make full use of your handset? Try Windows Live Barcode. Windows Live Barcode is a new way to avoid repetitive input, store more information, and enjoy better handset services within seconds

Take the tour

How are companies that are relying on 2d code scanning affected?



p.s. There's a special message in that 2d code I created for the people who should take Microsoft's announcement seriously.

GMedia Offers Mobile Bar Code Scanning In China

Add GMedia to the physical world connection list .

EMI has partnered with mobile technology company Gmedia to offer a bar code-supported mobile blog for EMI singer Pan Meichen, reports Ccidnet. Cassette tapes, CDs and posters of Pan's new album Zui Leng De Dong Tian will include a special barcode that, when scanned into handsets, will take users directly to Pan's mobile blog

Gmedia was established in 2004 focusing on mobile barcode powered cross media services. As the first mover and leader in mobile 2D barcode in China, Gmedia has signed up strategic cooperation with China Mobile in mobile barcode platform and services.

Gmedia establishes nation wide sales channel for 2D barcode while China Mobile enables the decoder software installed in the mobile phone.

Holding 6 pending patents in mobile barcode technologies, Gmedia pioneers the cross media marketing innovations which enable the barcode visitor tracking so that the ad effect can be measured and personalized marketing can be realized.

Their clients include brands, advertisers and SMEs who use the 2D barcode in their print ad, brochure, posters, packaging, business card, etc to get the customer interaction through mobile phone.

Client list

Movile And Hypertag Offer BlueTooth For Toyota

Bluetooth marketing in Brazil

Despite the concerns regarding spamming and opt-in details, Brazilians are embracing bluetooth as an interesting option for a media channel. There's an increasing interest towards this technology as a media channel and only in this last month three actions were delivered in the city of Sao Paulo.

The biggest until now was delivered by Movile and Hypertag at the Sao Paulo Motor Show.

Movile , a Brazilian mobile marketing agency, in partnership with Hypertag, has set up a campaign using 10 devices for content delivery through both bluetooth and infrared - six of these were wearable devices.

The devices sent images containing a call to people to know Toyota's cars at the stand.

Three main factors are pushing forth the interest in bluetooth marketing in Brazil: new legislation forbidding any external advertising will be enforced beginning 2007. Everyone turned its eyes to internet and mobile; the noisy competition to grasp the user's attention; the low price per eyeball, comparing to other less effective media.

The concerns about spamming are usually solved with the first opt-in, which can be set as default on the phone, and as long as you won't get your message delivered over and over again, it's all fine.

Will Google Link Keywords To Specific Websites?

These bench ads are along a main strip in town, and I think I see what is coming next for Google and advertising.

An advertiser is now using Google as the default search engine of choice to drive traffic to their site. Telling people to "GOOGLE BENCHADS" they must have to pay a pretty premium for the word "BENCHADS".

Pontiac has been doing this for a while, but they have the finances to "buy" the word Pontiac and make sure their site is listed at the top of the results.

That makes me wonder, what if Google offered the ability to connect to SPECIFIC site when you typed in BENCHADS? Would Google be able to charge a premium for that service?

This not only search, but it can be a direct connection.

Is there a business in selling keywords that directly link a user to a specific site?

Would advertisers pay a premium for the ability to link to one specific page? If you bought a keyword, do you want to share the search results with competitor, or would you like your advertising to lead to traffic to your site only.

Could Google offer a "LINK" option? When a specific keyword was either entered and the "LINK" (News, Image, Link etc) option was chosen, the user would be taken to a specific site. But if you didn't want to link directly with a specific site, you still could use Google's search function. It's the best because it offers both.

If the keyword isn't registered with Google, the normal search results would appear and Google could offer to "sell" that keyword for the linking function.

Would a Google Link act as a "keyword browser"?

I already discussed how Google starts selling mobile keywords for their SMS application.

Stats show Google is the search engine of choice and because Google is already "on" your mobile phone, if they added a "LINK" function, this could be a more targeted efficient form of Internet advertising.

Bar Code Reading Mouse

From Ubergizmo Bar code reading mouse

Elecom to develop the new Bar-Code Reading Mouse. This neat little peripheral is capable of reading both monochrone and 2D color barcodes (also known as QR barcodes)

Cell Phones As Bar Code Scanners

From Entrepreneur.com Cell phones as bar code scanners

Today's handheld interactive devices offer another promotional opportunity--one that Japanese businesses are already profiting from.

Using bar code scanners added to camera phones and PDAs, customers can scan bar codes in-store and conduct price checks, or take a photo of a bar code with their web-enabled mobile device, then e-mail the code in to get more information or a special offer.

Mobile devices in the U.S. are already equipped with these capabilities and might even include bar code scanners, but U.S. consumers haven't jumped on the scanning bandwagon--yet.

Companies like NextCode and PaperClip assign designations to pre-existing bar codes so web-enabled mobile devices connect that code with a particular website, eliminating time-consuming texting on tiny keyboards

Physical World Hyperlink Patent War Ahead?

I think it is given that 2d codes will be adopted before 1d (barcodes) as the physical world hyperlink of choice, so I have started to notice an interesting licensing trend take place.

I wonder if this will affect the physical world connection companies that use 2d codes for camera phone scanning.

Veritec , and their wholly owned subsidiary VCode Holdings Inc, has been announcing licensing agreements in the past couple weeks with some pretty large companies. They include Texas Instruments, Allstate Insurance and Dell.

Maybe that's why they came out of bankruptcy

Veritec Inc. is the pioneer and patent holder of two-dimensional (2D) matrix coding technology. The company is engaged in developing, marketing, and selling encoding (writing) and decoding (reading) software and system products that utilize its patented technology. The Veritec codes allow end-users to produce and interpret secure coded data for identification, and verification purposes.

Veritec developed a 2D matrix symbology, during the late 80's, which was endorsed by NASA as the code of choice for their vendors. The 2-D code symbol is a small, checkerboard-like matrix and has the highest data capacity and density.

Data Matrix, while a public domain code, has a patent troll hanging around it that creates a lot of headaches for companies that use it for codes. This company below was awarded some patents around the same time as Acuity, who invented data matrix.

Thus there is a bunch of litigation around the code and major companies are being forced to license the code format creating a bunch of problems.

Data Matrix is the format used by a number of the physical world connection companies.

Tag Mobile Services Follow Up

I discussed this physical world connection application recently , but we are getting more details about the campaign.

Who's platform is being used? I can tell you that this company received a tremendous about of press for their ability to scan a barcode for price comparison in the States. They are on the list

From INQ7.net HIP sets up corporate blog network

Gabot said HIP recently introduced a technology called tag mobile service (TMS), which is a modified type of bar code that will be printed on their magazines. This modified barcode allows people armed with phone cameras to scan these printed codes and link to content found on a mobile website called WAP (wireless access protocol) or the Internet

Adel Gabot, group editor at HIP, said the "print as a medium" is in transition. Thus HIP is working on integrating their specialized magazines with an online counterpart. "Both mediums will feed on each other," he added.

The key sentence.

"We think TMS will be the killer application for 3G (third generation mobile services)," he added.

Will NFC Leapfrog 2D Codes For Mobile Payment?

Do you know what this is?

It looks like it could be the first type of physical world hyperlink to be introduced by major brands in the States.

Citi, MasterCard, and Cingular welcome you to the New York City Mobile Trial. Over a period of 3 to 6 months they will be testing a convenient and secure way to pay and view/download content using a mobile phone.

Just like making a payment, to download content from a smart media poster simply tap your trial mobile phone on the download symbol located on the poster.

Not only does this provide a method to deliver content, but it also includes an mobile-commerce platform too.

How does it work?

Contactless payment cards, tags, and phones all feature an embedded chip and antennae. After you tap your PayPass device on the reader at checkout, the card/tag/phone securely transmits payment details wirelessly.

Account details are communicated directly to the special reader and are then processed through the highly trusted MasterCard acceptance network in the normal manner. Moments after you tap the reader with your card/tag/phone, you will receive payment confirmation and are on your way.

What interests me are 2 key technology providers, VivoTech and Nokia. VivoTech is one of the largest POS terminal players and Nokia is the largest mobile phone manufacturer.

Are we seeing the beginning of the mobile commerce platform?

Up until now, contactless payments faced an insurmountable obstacle to growth - billions in cost to replace or upgrade the installed base of 30 million merchant POS terminals.

Look at the physical world connection angle, I wonder.

What impact will this have on companies that sell retrofits for POS terminals to read 2d codes?

Won't all wireless carriers be forced to adopt this technology?

Movie theaters now just scan your credit card to confirm your ticket, now you can just scan your phone? Instead of issuing you a unique 2d code, your credit card number becomes the identifier.

Will this technology leapfrog scanning 2d codes for mobile payments? How does this affect the mobile coupon and mobile ticketing industry.

Do you know the next application Nokia offers after this?

Swiftpass Launches Universal Mobile Ticket And Coupon Scanner

A New device could end all queues - Today's launch of a wireless, WiFi and Bluetooth handheld scanning device could radically decrease and even eradicate queuing outside entertainment and sport venues.

Launched by Swiftpass , the global supplier of mobile ticketing technologies, the handheld device has been designed to scan mobile tickets and coupons directly from mobile phone screens. It will be used in entertainment, sport and events where mobile ticketing is currently being adopted.

The scanner gives ticket office staff the ability to redeem mobile and bar-coded paper tickets in a fraction of the time, easing the burden front-of-house and reducing human error. It offers the ability to change scanning location and ticket redemption points and can help to dramatically reduce queuing times for popular events.

The large graphic display and wireless connectivity of the scanner allows for real-time validation and immediate feedback of information to operators upon scanning mobile or other ticket types. There is no need for the user to spend time aligning the scanner and barcode for it to be read, the ticket is captured directly from the mobile screen on contact with the scanner.

Tag Mobile Service Launched In Philippines

What is not said in this release, is that the Philippines has the highest data rate usage of mobile phone users. Scan a barcode and connect to the Internet.

This platform for this service is being offered by a US physical world connection company. I spoke to them at length about this campaign. It is starting with 10 magazines, 1 national newspaper and a host of other outlets.

From Mobile Philippines, one of the largest mobile magazines in the country, Mobile This!

This barcode is part of a service known worldwide as TMS or Tag Mobile Service. And now, it is here in the Philippines, making its debut in Mobile Pilipinas 2006, the country’s biggest wireless tech expo.

In one sentence, TMS is a convenient way to download any form of multimedia into your mobile by turning your phone’s camera into a barcode scanner.

Welcome to the next generation of content distribution in the Philippines! In the “old days” we used to grab content (quotes, movie schedules, breaking news, ringtones, movie clips) by texting a few characters to an odd number combination (text “imhandsome” to 5555).

This is well and good, but it is time to take advantage of a much more convenient piece of technology that allows you to really make your mobile phone an extension of your personal life.

In fact, if you have your cameraphone right now, you can point your browsers to the TMS Philippine Embassy website and download the java applet for your phone.

If your phone is not listed, try downloading the app closest to your phone model. You can also choose to download the app directly to your phone by going to mobi.tms.com.ph on your phone’s browser. Then, try launching the application and take a picture of the Mobile This! tag on this site and see what happens!

As of the moment, shooting a TMS tag to access data is FREE for 2006. Standard GPRS, 3G and WiFi rates apply.

MyThum And Artisan Live Reach Consumers Anywhere They Buy

The cell phone is the next medium advertisers are targeting. MyThum is combining signage with text messaging to reach consumers effectively.

From NewsWire Reaching conusmers anywhere they buy

The number of "digital signs" on which Canadian marketers can advertise just got a whole lot bigger. With the partnership of Artisan Live , North America's premier full-service digital sign developer and MyThum Interactive , Canada's leading mobile media company, advertisers can now interact with consumers over retail and out of home level screens, inviting them to interact via cell phone.

"The next generation of in-store merchandising has arrived," explained
Artisan Live Marketing Manager, Kris Matheson.

By combining the capabilities of MyThum and Markham, Ont.-based digital sign developer Artisan Live and applying them to 6,305 digital signs across Canada. "So if I'm shopping in a store or a mall, or at a restaurant or bar, I can see a very explicit message onscreen, text in and get the coupon or a bar code for a discount on my cellphone and redeem it by simply walking up to a counter."

Scanbuy Recognized As A Web 2.0 Company

One of the physical world connection companies, Scanbuy , is being recognized as a player for the "2.0 World".

I like to refer to "2.0 World" as Phase 2

From Longworth's blog Where the action is in IT

Longworth's Annual Conference was held last week at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge, MA. Over 150 professionals from the entrepreneur and venture community attended to discuss the latest trends in information technology.

There was plenty discussion about how Web 2.0 concepts will be used in the enterprise and very interesting speculation about what will be the "Enterprise 2.0 Killer App".

The Conference also featured presentations from Sermo and Scanbuy , two very interesting Longworth portfolio companies that clearly fit the model for success in a "2.0 world".

Mobile Marketing Needs Physical World Hyperlinks

From International Herald Tribune Mobile marketing in an ink blot

QR, or quick response, codes are a similar to bar codes except they are square, look a bit like an ink blot and contain much more information. In Japan and South Korea, QR codes are used to link directly to a Web site, as in the case of the subway poster, saving the user the need to type an address on the tiny keypad of the phone. As marketers seek an edge on competitors, QR codes are appearing practically everywhere in Japan.

Denso Wave, a Japanese electronics company, created QR codes in 1994 to track car parts, employing hand-held devices that are still in use.

Although it patented the process, the company allowed anybody to create QR codes without having to pay a licensing fee. That helped the technology take off.

But that by itself would not have been enough to guarantee the code's ubiquity, said Daniel Scuka, the editor of Wireless Watch Japan, an online publication.

"QR codes have been a great success in Japan because phone carriers confronted this in a systemic way, with all of them using the same technology," he said - a potential lesson for carriers in Europe and the United States.

I think that is the most important line in this story. A universal reader and 2d code will be the catalyst.

While QR codes have had success in Japan and South Korea, they have not made the leap to the rest of Asia, Europe and North America.

MobileTag, developed by the French company Abaxia, and ShotCode , created by a Swedish-Dutch start-up called OP3, are similar to QR codes and could be the early favorites to grab market share outside Asia, should the technology catch on.