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Nokia smart phone will scan barcodes to compare prices Finnish firm hopes phone that allows shoppers to find best prices or homebuyers to book viewings will help it catch up with iPhone

Abhinav Ramnarayan guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 10 November 2009 17.47 GMT Article history

Nokia's research centre in Helsinki. The company is hoping its scanner application will increase its visibility. Photograph: Antti Aimo-Koivisto/AFP/Getty Images


Nokia is set to launch a new phone that will enable consumers to scan a product at the supermarket and compare the price with other stores instantly, or even order the same product online if cheaper.

Nokia's Point and Find software allows shoppers to use the phone's camera to scan barcodes and images, and access additional information on the product or service. The Finnish company is linking up with price-aggregating websites, such as PriceGrabber.com, which compare the price of products from different stores.

The software expands an existing service: barcodes are used in Japan to allow users to look for additional information with a swipe of the mobile phone, such as cinema times from a poster, or flight prices from a tourism ad. But these depend on information provided by the maker of the product being scanned.

Some independent developers have attempted to make scanner applications for the iPhone and other platforms but most have been slated in online forums for their inaccurate scanning and lack of efficiency in providing information.

Nokia claims to circumvent these problems because its smart phones have higher resolution cameras with automatic focusing, which makes it easier to scan the image, and the tie-up with aggregators allows the user to compare retailers.

"Unlike other applications, it also allows the scanning of both 2D and 1D barcodes," a company spokesman said. Uni-dimensional barcodes are the typical type found on products, while two-dimensional, or QR, barcodes are slowly spreading as they can hold more information and be read faster. "We are also the first to tie up with price-aggregators to give you an instant response from a trusted source."

It is to launch next year in all European countries. A test version is available in the UK but the full version will be launched soon and come pre-loaded on the phone. While it can only be accessed on high-end devices with internet capability, the company said that within the next two years half of all mobile phones in the UK would meet these criteria.

The company is also looking to push other benefits of the product: it is linking up with property developers so potential homebuyers can scan a house for sale and instantly access more information, book viewings or contact the present owner.

"It integrates GPS [global positioning system] with the camera – so even if the house looks similar to another, the GPS pinpoints the location of the user and matches it with the picture of the house," the spokesperson said.

The company will be hoping that the product will increase its visibility in the mobile phone applications sector. Apple's iPhone has much better brand-recognition in the west, while Nokia's Ovi suite is still relatively unknown.

Purnima Kochikar, who manages the developer community for Nokia, said: "We do have a challenge in terms of improving how customers see our applications, though we have done very well in creating an ecosystem for the [applications'] developers."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/nov/10/nokia-barcode-scanning-smart-phone