NeoMedia Technologies, Inc (NEOM)

[Banks]

From PP:

Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Neven Vision Offers Physical World Connection Using Images
Remember an image is a physical world hyperlink too.

Two major physical world connection events took place this week.

NTT Docomo announced they would be embedding Neven Vision's image recognition technology on their phones, and Bill Gates highlighted the importance digital images will have in the new platform for interactive advertising and media companies.

A major wireless carrier is implementing the physical world connection.

My interview with Neven Vision's CEO Alex Cory came at a perfect time.

Neven Vision offers the ability for mobile phones to interact directly with real world images to get offers, contest, transactions and more. Their iscout application focuses on "points of interest" and allows mobile phones to "see" and understand visual imagery which then offers a direct connect function.

Neven Vision is able to turn an image INTO a physical world hyperlink. Think about that. By taking an image and extracting "points of interest", they can identify the image and then direct the user to the targeted site or content....from ANY IMAGE.

Their mobile technology can even resolve a barcode today.

The focus of physical world connection has centered around a code, barcode or 2d code. A barcode is usually on packaging, while a 2d code has to be added to make an object hyperlinkable.


Neven Vision uses existing images to make any packaging it Internet accessable.

Last year Neven and Coca Cola teamed up for a mobile marketing campaign that made the CocaCola logo a mobile hyperlink.

I can see the problem coming for the 2d code players.

They can function great as hyperlinks, but there are many companies that offer them which will lead to lots of closed networks. This is fragmented and unless there's one application that can read ALL of them, mass adoption will never occur.

If you don't have a logo or barcode and don't want to put a 2d code on your advertsing, Neven Vision solves this problem. They can read a barcode, 2d code, or any image.

When NTT Docomo announced they were putting Neven's application on their phones, I could see a physical world "platform" being adopted how quickly other applications could come from this. It's nice to see a major wireless provider recognize how big the physical world connection application will be.

Expect to see them launch 2 mobile marketing campaigns with major brands shortly.

I plan on meeting in person with them at CTIA show and show in detail how this technology works with pictures.