NeoMedia Technologies, Inc (NEOM)

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DD Cell phone-to-Web marketing inching forward for papers

by Marcelo Duran
Associate Editor


http://www.newsandtech.com/issues/2006/12-06/pt/12-06_cell-marketing.htm
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Vendors are beginning to roll out technologies aimed at helping newspaper advertisers close the gap between the information displayed in print ads and the content posted on their Web sites.

Case in point: Vaasa, Finland-based UpCode Ltd., which showed off its mobile marketing technology, UpCode, at this year’s IfraExpo in Amsterdam.

UpCode is an optical code reader that allows users to automatically access Web content by merely pointing camera-equipped cell phones or PDAs at print ads containing a special code, according to Sture Udd, UpCode president.


“(With a) smart phone, you point your camera at an UpCode and (users) will receive the (advertiser’s Web) content on their phone either through the Web browser or directly on the screen,” Udd said. Users without the necessary camera connection can tap in a number and receive the same content, he said.

“UpCode offers readers interactive information and gives advertisers the ability to communicate with customers,” Udd said, adding that the technology is suitable for supporting updated news, multimedia apps and other services such as ticket booking.

Udd said UpCodes can be printed on any printing surface, ranging from newsprint and a candy bag to outdoor advertising displays.

Udd said that Upcode is cooperating with Goss International Corp. to develop additional capabilities. He declined to provide further details about the venture.

Another firm, Fort Myers, Fla.-based NeoMedia Technologies Inc., is touting another direct-to-Web service, called qode, which also relies on a series of codes that transmit Web information to users’ cell phones.

In September, NeoMedia tested the technology with The News-Press in Fort Myers, which ran a print ad with embedded codes.

NeoMedia said it hopes to launch qode “in the very near future,” according to the firm’s Web site.

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