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Industry Leaders Believe 2D Barcodes will Generate Sales in 2010
http://mobile-barcode.tmcnet.com/topics/mobile-barcode-trends/articles/76508-industry-leaders-believe-2d-barcodes-will-generate-sales.htm
Shopping and Search Merge: Google Shopper to Exponentially Grow M-Commerce
http://mobile-barcode.tmcnet.com/topics/mobile-barcode-innovations/articles/76504-shopping-search-merge-google-shopper-exponentially-grow-m.htm
note where the two articles came from...
Neustar’s Barcode Clearinghouse Cuts Through Mobile Interoperability To Try And Bring Barcodes Mainstream
There’s been many attempts by many companies to solve the problems facing mobile barcodes, and the many aspects limiting its mainstream existence, but Neustar has made key progress with its announcement of a Mobile Barcode Clearinghouse service to finally solve interoperability issues with the concept.
During Mobile World Congress, the company debuted its mobile barcode clearinghouse services alongside a unique 2D barcode campaign in cooperation with Visa. With its new clearinghouse services, Neustar aims to provide a method for companies that produce and distribute barcode readers to interoperate with other companies who create barcode campaigns. The link between the two have been missing, and is a primary limiting factor to mobile barcodes seeing mainstream adoption.
This coordinated approach allows each of the participants to benefit from the efforts of the others, including participation from barcode leaders NeoMedia, 3GVision, Mobile Data Systems, and Mobile Discovery, who are all using the Neustar clearinghouse. The clearinghouse is open to other industry players who wish to benefit from the mass market and scale that can be achieved through an open, interoperable approach.
This is a key progress point for mobile barcodes. In the past, when a company wanted to introduce mobile barcodes (or any aspect of which), they basically had to start from the ground up. The result was a fragmented marketplace filled with varying barcode technologies (2D, QR, JagTag, etc.) along with varying barcode readers. In the end, consumers have never been presented with a standardized, easy-to-use mechanism for mobile barcodes. Neustar’s new clearinghouse service is setting the stage to bring this to reality.
“With our Mobile Barcode Clearinghouse, Neustar can provide both campaign managers and Mobile Network Operators with a rich new approach to accessing mobilized content and services,” said Diane Strahan, vice president at Neustar. “Barcodes offer direct response accountability through measurable ROI and enable advertisers to adjust their content based on near real time tracking of each campaign’s performance. For consumers, barcodes offer an exciting ’shortcut’ to accessing rich content, helpful information and m-commerce.”
Visa and Google Team Up on Mobile Payments
http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2008/09/visa_and_google.html
Visa, NeuStar team on mobile payments and financial services
http://www.cso.com.au/article/308550/visa_neustar_team_mobile_payments_financial_services
Neustar, Visa Team on 2D Barcode Promo
http://www.wirelessweek.com/News/2010/02/Vendors-Neustar-Visa-Team-on-2D-Barcode-Promo/
Iain McCready’s words: “Bringing the NeoReader to the high growth Android platform brings us ever closer to mass market adoption of 2D barcodes. Android’s commitment to the OHA (open handset alliance) matches NeoMedia’s own objective of achieving open standards in order to drive rapid market growth and consumer adoption. With the ubiquity of the mobile web and the plethora of emergent mobile technology applications, there has never been a better time to get involved in this exciting marketplace.”
Sony Ericsson shows love for Google Android
Executives from Sony Ericsson, the struggling European handset maker working hard to make a turnaround in 2010, said most of its new phones introduced this coming year will sport the Google Android operating system.
On the eve of the Mobile World Congress trade show, Sony Ericsson held a press conference here to show off its three new smartphones due out the first half of 2010. All three phones fit into an existing portfolio of devices that the company is calling the Fab Five. And two of the latest handsets will use Google Android.
The two new Android phones are follow-on products to another Android device Sony Ericsson introduced in November, the X10. The new phones, the X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro, are similar to the X10, but smaller and more compact than the original device.
The third phone announced, the Vivaz Pro, adds a QWERTY keyboard to the Vivaz, a device announced by Sony Ericsson. These phones use the Symbian operating system.
Up until recently, Sony Ericsson mostly used the Symbian operating system for its smartphones. Now, the company's CEO Bert Nordberg said the company will use three mobile OSes: Symbian, Microsoft's Windows Mobile, and Google Android.
That said, most of the new smartphones launched in 2010 will use Google Android, he said.
"This year everyone is talking about Android," he said. "We've been working closely with Google, and we expect the majority of our releases this year will be Android."
Nordberg, who took the CEO post in October, emphasized the company isn't abandoning Symbian, its traditional smartphone OS, nor is it giving up on Microsoft Windows Mobile. The company announced its first Windows Mobile phone two years ago at this same trade show and conference.
"We support three operating systems," he said.
As for the future, he said things could change. "Two and a half years ago it was all Symbian OS. And now Android is everywhere. I don't want to guess what will happen in the next few years, so we are hedging our bets."
Google unveiled its Android open-development operating system in fall 2007. It took a year before the first Android phone, the HTC G1 sold by T-Mobile, was introduced. And at last year's Mobile World Congress, there was only one Android phone announced. Within the past year, more than 50 Android devices have been announced.
It's clear that Sony Ericsson has been swayed by Google's growing popularity. Many handset makers are turning toward Google to help them build competitive smartphones. Motorola, which is also struggling to regain its footing in the handset business, is betting big on Android. The company expects to have at least 20 Android devices on the market by the end of 2010.
Others are also expected to announce Android devices at the conference this week, including HTC, ZTE, Dell, Samsung, and LG.
With so many Android phones hitting the market, how will companies such as Sony Ericsson differentiate their products?
Executives at Sony Ericsson say they aren't worried about that. They believe that they are tweaking the software enough on each of the operating systems used to ensure that consumers have a unique Sony Ericsson experience and not an experience dictated by the operating system
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13970_7-10453340-78.html
That means they've gained 5 employees since April 1, 2009.
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1022701/000114420409020478/v145996_10k.htm
Didn't Neomedia, not too long ago like last year, was down to their bare bones on number of employees like around 12 or 15?? Now it's up to 30 employees. Can anyone confirm when and how low number of employees Neomedia had at one time?
Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air Launch Paperless Boarding Passes -- Is This the Future?
http://blog.seattlepi.com/airlinereporter/archives/195035.asp?from=blog_last3
One week after launch, Mobiletag has seen its new barcode-reading application, called Universal Reader, hit number 1 in the free Productivity category of the iPhone App Store in France.
Founded in 2006, the French company not only develops barcode-reading software but is also behind the development of flashcode, the standard 2D barcode or tag used in France. It launched its first mobile application, a 2D barcode reader for the iPhone, in October 2009.
Aside from the iPhone, the new application – which scans various 1D and 2D barcodes (EAN 13, UPC, Datamatrix, flashcode, Fotokody and QR-code) – is available on all the other major mobile platforms (Android, Symbian, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile).
After scanning a barcode via a mobile phone’s camera, the application triggers a price comparison service, allowing users to see if and where the particular scanned product is sold cheaper. Therefore, if the lowest price isn’t on the web but in a particular store, the Mobiletag application will bring-up a Google Map and direct you to it. The application is available in English and French and also integrates various social features, enabling users to easily share product price information via Twitter and Facebook.
Mobiletag received a €4 million investment from Alven Captial, XAnge Private Equity and IDF Capital in October 2008.
http://eu.techcrunch.com/2010/02/16/mobiletags-universal-reader-app-turns-your-mobile-into-a-barcode-reader/
Ten years ago I wrote my first "From The Editor" for Business Solutions magazine (BSM), and to say a lot has changed in the channel since then would be an understatement. One technology that was popular in 2000 that I'm surprised has been resurrected is print-to-Web. It's gone by a few different names, but the concept is still the same: A user scans a bar code that acts as a hyperlink to a website with more information on the topic they were reading. Back in 2000, the leading company was Digital Convergence with its CueCat scanner, which had a cord that plugged into a USB port to connect you to the Web. In fact, I still have my CueCat as well as a similar device that Intermec produced briefly called a Qode (the latter is still in existence and a patented technology from NeoMedia). Neither of which is worth anything to me today, which is exactly how users felt about this technology back in 2000. In short, the print-to-Web concept was a failure, with the CueCat earning the distinction of one of "The 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time" according to PCWorld Magazine.
http://www.bsminfo.com/download.mvc/An-Old-Technology-Resurfaces-With-Channel-0001
My, my, so much has changed since then. Ubiquity is where it's at.
Neustar Touts Wireless Chops
The search for smart ways to make up the gap between subscriber revenue and demands on broadband wireless infrastructure is proceeding in earnest.
This week’s venue for exploring that challenge is the Mobile World Congress 2010 (MWC) in Barcelona Spain.
“As in previous years, there will be new handset technology, LTE and infrastructure expansion,” Steve Edwards, SVP converged addressing at Neustar, said in a MWC preview last week. “But this year we’re going to see a lot more on specific applications and services.”
Neustar is known for its domain name systems (DNS), electronic numbering (ENUM) and risk management expertise. (Time Warner Cable uses the company to minimize fraud and bad debt. Click here for more.) Believing that its core competence in providing interoperability across complex ecosystems applies in the wireless space, it is launching a Mobile IP platform.
“The acceleration of 4G in access networks (entails) a complementary expansion in the core to support a whole new portfolio of services,” Edwards said.
The company was scheduled to showcase an application using 2D barcodes and mobile marketing yesterday. (Two-dimensional barcodes use symbols rather than bars to represent data that machines can read optically.)
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The company is now routing 1 billion IMs a month, Edwards said.
Ramping the 2D Barcode Industry Segment
With the introduction of mobile barcodes for content rich advertisements over cell phones, the telecommunications industry is once again facing the challenge of how best to structure itself to support this new application and market segment. The key for any new industry segment is to ramp revenues fast enough so that all the participants in the value chain are able to quickly grow their businesses. In the case of mobile barcodes, the key to early and broad market acceptance is ease of use by subscribers, and that means that it must work the first time and every time the consumer tries to use it. With one or two failed experiences, the consumer will quickly abandon the feature and move on to the next latest technology feature. With the Mobile Barcodes Pilot Program, Neustar, NeoMedia, 3GVision, Mobile Data Systems, and Mobile Discovery are proposing an industry structure around open 2D barcode standards implemented indirectly through a clearinghouse model for the greatest overall coverage, security, and user experience.
In an effort to predictably enhance the customer’s experience and maximize revenue potential, service providers may be inclined to implement a variety of barcode solutions unique to their network, but when looking across the industry, one quickly discovers the reverse result may be more likely. Two potential implementation configurations that could be problems for the industry are proprietary encoding and those that are limited to the carrier’s network in either a direct or indirect model. In the proprietary implementations, consumers who do not have the proprietary reader on their cell phone will not be able to translate the code data, and with implementations limited to a carrier’s network, consumers who are not on the same network may not have access to the content. Both could lead to customer experience problems when looking from an industry perspective. And, in both cases, consumers of the advertisers’ products will suffer a negative experience if they are not able to download the advertisers’ content, which becomes a negative experience for the advertisement sponsor as well as the network. There are other limitations with a direct implementation, whereby the barcode is directly translated to a URI associated with that service target content. These include security issues, longer addresses, meaning larger barcodes, and limited ability to change the content destination, which can be preferable for a variety of reasons.
In order to expand coverage for their advertisements, carriers may opt to peer with other carriers to make the Web content from their advertisements available to mobile subscribers on each other’s networks, but this still limits access to only those peered networks and only works if the peered networks use similar technology. It also adds unnecessary cost and complexity for the carrier. In a clearinghouse configuration a trusted third party provides the data normalization and registry look-up, which resolves security, network reach, and technology translation issues for carriers and advertisers. The clearinghouse model is well established in the telecommunications industry with routine registry lookups and destination resolutions for local telephone numbers, toll-free telephone numbers, domain name servers (DNS) for web addresses, and ENUM databases for VoIP address translations, and companies providing such services include Neustar, Telcordia, XConnect (News - Alert).
Another key advantage for the clearinghouse model for 2D mobile barcodes is the ability to facilitate advertisements from a large number of advertising agencies and campaign managers across the same carrier networks to reach the consumers. While carriers may establish themselves as campaign managers or form relationships with existing campaign managers to manage the 2D mobile barcodes advertisements on their networks, each carrier can effectively establish and manage only a limited number of relationships. Given that the advertising industry is well established with existing relationships between clients, media companies, advertising agencies, and campaign managers, the telecommunications industry’s 2D mobile barcode segment must have the flexibility to support the existing relationships as well as new ones. Without that flexibility, carriers will greatly restrict their ability to participate in the advertising segment since most brand managers will be reluctant to risk their brand in new untested relationships. And, with Forrester Research (News - Alert) forecasting that less than 15 percent of the total advertising budgets will be spent on interactive advertising in 2010 and less than 2 percent on mobile marketing, the upside potential for the 2D mobile barcode segment is significant as long as it is structured correctly to tap into those relationships.
The clearinghouse model provides the greatest opportunity for the industry segment to ramp overall revenues the fastest by resolving the common problems of limited reach, interoperability, and security concerns of point solutions, and by providing the greatest flexibility to support an established advertising industry. As Diane Strahan, Vice President of Mobile Services at Neustar, says “Every mobile application provider could become a distributor of barcodes, and we want them to.” According to Diane, participants in the Mobile Barcodes Pilot Program will be able to work through details and fine tune the industry model, including the business model.
How's the market today elsewhere besides the U.S since it's a holiday today?
If you're an Android fan, the network to be on in the US is clearly T-Mobile. At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Motorola revealed its eighth Android phone, the Motorola Cliq XT (as it will be known stateside) or Quench (its name everywhere else). The Cliq XT will land on T-Mobile next month. Pricing hasn't been confirmed.
Mystery tag on Mobiletag... what is it? See bottom right of webpage.
http://ns207497.ovh.net/~mobileta/
From Scan to Sale, Magazines Push into Mobile Commerce
Esquire magazine is one pioneer in the space. It plans to use mobile technology to allow readers to purchase items right off the page via their smartphone.
In its March issue, which hits newsstands this weekend, Esquire will have barcodes next to all products featured in its editorial section. Readers simply scan the barcodes and a menu on their phone will open with several options, including the choice to instantly purchase the product. Users will also be able to find retailers carrying the item or learn more about how to style the products.
“It’s the perfect logical extension to close the gap between being inspired to taking action,” said David Granger, editor-in-chief of Esquire. “It’s what’s always been lacking. If we could enable purchase for items we recommend, why wouldn’t we make it easier for people to buy these specific items?”
Granger said the barcodes are an experiment, and he can see them serving as an extension of the magazine. The barcode works much like a hyperlink on a Web site, and eventually Granger said he would like to use the technology to link users to other content on their phones including videos, photos and more.
But there are some caution lights ahead. This smartphone technology is not likely the killer app the struggling magazine sector is looking for to breathe new life into its business.
Barcode technology is not new, but it is undergoing somewhat of a rebirth on account of the rapid growth in the usage of smartphones, and print mediums — and their advertisers — may stand to benefit, said Jonathan B. Bulkeley, CEO of ScanBuy.
ScanBuy, a company that focuses on using 2D barcodes for marketing purposes, is Esquire's partner as it makes the jump from physical to digital possible in palm of your hand. ScanBuy has designed ScanLife, an app that must be opened while capturing the barcode with the smartphone's mobile camera.
“Print has always wanted to be measurable and interactive, and people reading printed information want more information and they want it now,” said Bulkeley.
Barcode technology, like what is being featured in Esquire, does both, Bulkeley said. Although the barcode technology may ultimately attract some advertisers to print publications, the technology isn't likely to catch on with consumers, said Mark Beccue, a senior analyst for mobile commerce at ABI Research.
He sees barcode scan technology being most effectively used at brick-and-mortar retailers where people can use a 2D barcode on their mobile phone as a means to pay for items, just like a gift card, Beccue said.
“Being able to buy from the print magazine is something nice to have, but it remains to be seen how consumers respond,” said Beccue. “If anything, it’s more for the novelty than to make a purchase.”
Still, Esquire, a Hearst Communications publication, is forging ahead.
The ScanLife app, which is currently present on about 25 million mobile devices, can be downloaded on the mobile browser at www.scanlife.com, at the Apple [AAPL 198.79 3.674 (+1.88%) ] App Store for an iPhone or at Google's [GOOG 536.739 2.294 (+0.43%) ] Android Market for a Nexus One or Android mobile device.
Esquire
The barcode will lead consumers to Websites via their smartphone.
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ScanBuy allows publishers to measure readers’ engagement with content and advertisements, much like how audience engagement is measured on Web sites. The company also will be able to measure what content the reader is responding to by keeping track of statistics like the number of scans per page, an incentive Buckeley said might help boost print’s appeal to advertisers.
And with magazine sales dropping nationwide, the industry can use all the help it can get.
Earlier this week a report from the Audit Bureau of Circulations indicated that magazine circulation in the US during the last six months of 2009 was down 2.23 percent from a year ago. Single copy sales were down 9.1 percent, while paid subscriptions were down 1.12 percent.
The Canadian newspaper The National Post, a partner of ScanBuy, is already using barcode technology in advertisements and in editorial content; and this trend could catch on more broadly in the print industry, Buckeley said.
The potential of ScanBuy's technology has received a lot of attention lately, including from investors. Motorola's [MOT 6.66 0.03 (+0.45%) ] venture capital arm,Motorola Ventures, announced earlier this month its decision to invest in ScanBuy, however, financial terms were not disclosed.
As for Esquire, Granger said will be closely gauging readers’ response to the March issue. However, he has already shared details of the barcode technology with his ad team in case the publication's advertisers want to consider it.
But it’s going to take more than a mobile marketing push to save the magazine industry, Beccue said.
“They are clearly making sure they are doing things to engage advertisers, but will that attract more subscribers? I doubt it, they have a much bigger issue to solve,” said Beccue.
neustar's 4Q earnings conf call includes discussions about 2d barcodes
http://seekingalpha.com/article/187928-neustar-inc-q4-2009-earnings-call-transcript
Jcg, go to Qode.com site and click on the menu tags (any of them) and listen to the sound after clicking on one of them.
http://www.qode.com/en/index.jsp
Sounds similar to that of in the Mobile Tag video after clicking on a barcode at the 50 second mark.
http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/prne/mobiletag/40778/
The Ghost of CueCat Lives on Google's Android Phones
http://www.thebigmoney.com/blogs/app-economy/2010/02/04/ghost-cuecat-lives-googles-android-phones
In that link has a YouTube video of the Weather Channel with a QR code
Scanbuy mentioned in Business Week mag.
Bar Codes Ride Again—on Mobile Phones
Scanbuy, JagTag, and other U.S. companies are trying to harness the potential of bar codes to deliver ads and information to cell-phone users
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2010/tc2010024_192595.htm
JAGTAG 2D Now Live on all U.S. Wireless Carriers
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/jagtag-2d-mobile-barcode-technology-now-live-on-all-us-wireless-carriers-83248637.html
Neustar discussed Jagtag
http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/neustar-pushes-2d-bar-codes-to-forefront-with-neomedia-deal/
Neustar and the "tipping point"
http://e-ditionsbyfry.com/ActiveMagazine/getBook.asp?Path=TWW1/2010/01/01&BookCollection=TWW&ReaderStyle=WithPDF&Page=12
http://i46.tinypic.com/qpovet.png
Gomo News and Jagtag about the Vancouver games.
http://www.gomonews.com/brandcoding-jagtag-launches-new-mobile-barcode-advertising-at-ces/
The photo was taken at a distance, and at an angle, plus it was etched on a curved glass with lighting differences from the front and behind the glass made it hard to capture the codes cleanly. It's not exactly identical with some missing or additional patterns to it. As far as I'm concerned it's an Aztec code.
Are you saying that YA is purposely trying to mislead the readers with a photo barcode of a fake Aztec look alike code that doesn't go anywhere because it's not really an Aztec code to begin with? Would YA even risk doing that if it were so? Seems like you're trying to imply that. Your question needs to be asked of Bena, not me.
Jcg, it is still a true Aztec code to begin with. A barcode that is etched on glass which has a different appearance to those who can't see for what it is does not make it into not an Aztec barcode. Reversing or inverting the color certainly did not make it magically turn into an Aztec barcode anyway. It's an Aztec code to begin with whether you can see it or not.
MMA: Consumer Best Practices (United States) (December 2009)*
A compilation of accepted industry practices, wireless carrier policies and regulatory guidance
http://mmaglobal.com/bestpractices.pdf
Thank you. Yep. Smelled that from a mile away.
First he said that Bena called that code a QR code. She didn't even come close to saying that at all.
Secondly, said that barcode isn't an Aztec code because of a missing center. You can see it clearly it is an Aztec code that is etched in glass if you invert that photo color and you'll see the classic bullseye pattern show up.
Even though it was patented (http://www.adams1.com/patents/US5591956.pdf) it has been in the public domain for quite some time.
Invert the color and you'll see the center and the classic bullseye pattern that is clearly, clearly an Aztec code. Gonna slam me and others again for your mistake?
The inverted color of Bena's photo here:
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=46100770
Yes, I know. It is an Aztec barcode easily recognizable with the center squares.
http://www.mbarc.nl/assets/HMH_impressie.wmv
A video on barcode ticketing via phone.
From bottom of page at
http://www.mbarc.nl/mbarcnewland_news.html
She didn't say the image was a QR code but was talking about a QR belt buckle story. She said "2D barcode" in reference to the image and not a QR code.
Not to be outdone by our QR Belt Buckle story from yesterday….
Yorkville Advisors have sent me this image from their London offices.
Its a 2D Barcode that points to NeoMedia’s site (Yorkville are investors in NeoMedia). It works as well when you take a picture of it.